There’s a familiar story about a butterfly struggling to escape its cocoon.

Someone sees the struggle and, wanting to help, tears the cocoon open.

It seems compassionate.

Why watch something struggle when you have the ability to make it easier?

But the butterfly needed the struggle.

The very thing that looked like suffering was part of the process that prepared it to fly.

I see this same thing happen in the lives of people struggling with addiction.

We love them, so we want to rescue them.

We fix the consequences.
We make the phone call.
We pay the bill.
We smooth things over.
We remove the obstacle.
We make the uncomfortable comfortable.

And sometimes, without realizing it, we tear open the very cocoon God may be using to bring change.

There is a difference between helping someone through a struggle and taking the struggle away from them.

Some things cannot be done for another person.

They have to struggle.
They have to surrender.
They have to make the decision.
They have to face the consequences.
They have to get back up.
They have to learn to walk differently.

Because recovery isn’t simply about escaping addiction.

It’s about becoming strong enough to live differently.

Struggle produces perseverance.
Perseverance produces character.
And character produces hope.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” — Romans 5:3–4

That doesn’t mean we abandon people in their struggle.

We love them.
We encourage them.
We pray for them.
We walk beside them.
We point them toward truth.
We extend a hand when they are ready to stand.

But we cannot do the struggling for them.

Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is resist the urge to tear open the cocoon.

Because the struggle you desperately want to remove may be the very thing God uses to strengthen their wings.

🦋 Don’t rob someone of the struggle they need in order to learn how to fly.

There is beauty on the other side.

There is strength on the other side.

There is freedom on the other side.

And sometimes…

the struggle is part of becoming who God created us to be.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature…” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

Struggle brings change.
Change brings growth.
And strengthened wings were made to fly. 🦋🙏