Our Potential - Sometimes hard, but beautiful in the end

Will loves bugs so much that Grandpa Turano got him to eat a fly back in Feb. when he was visiting for Brooke's bday. Luckily I saw it in his mouth before he swallowed!!! I knew Will would love this up close experience with beautiful bugs. I was positive Brooke would find it fascinating too, and as always she came up with something I never would have thought of. She thought it would be a good idea to try and give a butterfly, butterfly kisses.

We had our weekly family lesson along with our trip to the butterfly exhibit. I thought this story would remind us of our potential, and make a fun family activity at the same time! It was the best butterfly exhibit we have been to yet, and we have been to a few... The kids were laughing and smiling. They had to kick us out as the last family there when it was closing time. We loved it so much that we had to take home our own cacoon in a cup. We watched it turn into a butterfly two days later.

There was a story of a tiny striped caterpillar and how he joined a pile of other squirming, pushing
caterpillars who were trying to get to the top of the pile. It was only when he talked to a certain
yellow caterpillar that the two of them decided that getting on the top wasn’t really what they
wanted most. So, they climbed down and away from the others. They enjoyed being together,
and they ate and grew fat until one day they became bored, and they wanted to find out if there
was more to life. The striped caterpillar decided to find out by climbing again to the top of the
caterpillar pile. The yellow caterpillar felt ashamed that she didn’t agree but decided it was
better to wait until she could take action she could believe in. So he climbed, and she wandered
aimlessly until she saw a caterpillar hanging upside down on a branch and caught in some
hairy substance. She said, “You seem to be in trouble. Can I help you?” “No,” said the hanging
caterpillar, “I have to do this to become a butterfly.”
“Butterfly? What is a butterfly?”
“It’s what you are meant to be. It flies with beautiful wings and joins the earth to heaven. It
drinks only nectar from the flowers and carries seeds of love from one flower to another. Without
butterflies the world would soon have few flowers.”
The yellow caterpillar exclaimed, “It can’t be true! How can I believe there’s a butterfly inside
you or me when all I see is a fuzzy worm? How does one become a butterfly?”
The hanging caterpillar said, “You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a
caterpillar.”
The yellow caterpillar began fearfully but continued the process until at length she became a
butterfly. Then she helped the striped caterpillar learn who he was and leave the pile to become what
he was really meant to be. . . .
So it is for us as Latter-day Saints. We too must act worthy of ourselves and the glorious vision
of truth and eternity which has been restored to us. That vision of eternal growth and gentle, loving
persuasion is too great a dream to let go of when we hunger in our hearts to be one with our Savior.
The power is in you to reach out and claim those blessings. You have the powers within you to be
Christlike. It is what you are meant to be.
(Barbara B. Smith, “The Powers Within You,” speech given at Brigham Young University on 1 February 1981)