The Angel, the Seed and the Caterpillar

Last edited by baydon on Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:01 am; edited 3 times in total

The Angel, the Seed and the Caterpillar. ... by Baydon

There was a little seed. She was a timid little thing, comfortable in the close warmth of her shell, and afraid of the unknown world outside. In fact she was so comfortable that she had pretty much made up her mind that she wasn't coming out!

So God sent an Angel down to earth to take the little seed under her wing and give her encouragement. The Angel sat down beside the seed and said "You know, little one, it's time for you to grow your roots and come out of your shell".

But the little seed really didn't want to. "I like it in here" she said, "Can I just not germinate and stay here inside for ever?".

"I'm afraid not" said the Angel “soon you would just shrivel up and die. God has given you life for a purpose and he needs you. God loves you and will look after you. It's really not so bad out here, why don't you just open a little and take a peek."

Slowly, and with great reluctance, the little seed stirred and opened her shell just enough for the tiniest little peek, but when she saw the flowers and trees and birds and felt the warmth of the sun she was overwhelmed!

"Oh my" she exclaimed, “look how beautiful everything is! Oh, if I could be as beautiful as one of those" she said, pointing to the flowers, "well maybe coming out wouldn't be so bad after all!"

The Angel smiled and told her reassuringly "God only makes beautiful flowers! You would be just like that."

"What do you think my purpose would be?" asked the little seed.

"Oh my dear" said the Angel "it would be more than you could possibly understand if you knew all of it at once, you will find out a litle at a time. But this much I can tell you .. God will use you to help with one of his many miracles; you will get energy from the sun and food from the earth and use them to live and grow. Just by doing that you will be giving oxygen to the world, which is a very important purpose because all the animals in the whole wide world have to have oxygen to live. !"

"Wow" said the little seed "I could do that?"

"That and so much more. precious little one" said the Angel "but first you have to come out of that shell!"

Soon the little seed germinated and became a little plant which grew to bloom into a beautiful flower.

She knew she was fulfilling part of her purpose just like the Angel told her she would, but soon she discovered she had other things to do too; she caught rain in the folds of her leaves and all manner of tiny creatures came by to drink some to quench their thirst. Butterflies, Bees and Humming birds flew over to her and she would give them some nectar.

The little flower discovered she had very many purposes and felt really blessed, but what amazed her most was the fact that she was making all these very important contributions to God's kingdom but she wasn't the least bit diminished in the process. It didn’t hurt and she didn’t have to give up anything to do them!

One day a caterpillar came by and asked if it would be okay to build its home in the protection of her leaves and, of course, she said yes.

A Butterfly came and landed on her petals. The little caterpillar said to the flower "Oh how beautiful the butterflies are, I wish I could be like that and fly from place to place, but I'd be too scared! I think I will just stay here in my cocoon."

"Oh no, little one, if you do that you will soon shrivel up and die" she told the caterpillar. "God gave you life for a purpose. I don't know what it is but I know that you can be just like that Butterfly, but first you have to come out of that cocoon!"

Soon enough, the caterpillar emerged as a beautiful butterfly and gleefully fluttered from place to place, eager to discover its purpose too.

One day a very special thing happened to make the little flower more radiant than ever, and even more grateful to the Angel for bringing her out of her shell; she saw a man approaching and he leaned over and cradled her bloom ever so gently in his hand, then he turned to his companions and said "Consider the lilies of the field ...".

Member Joined: 01 Feb 2008 Posts: 354 Location: sacramento

That was sweet, got me smiling, and so very true.

Member Joined: 09 Jun 2005 Posts: 738 Location: New Jersey

That was great... thank you.
I read it and thought of me... doing a little and hiding the rest... really gives me something to think hard about. I know I have a lot more work to do... guess I need to "JUST DO IT" and stop thinking so much ... Thanks again Baydon

Guest

Yes I do remember it very well, it is a sweet story. Why don't you follow up on it?