The Butterfly

Picking up the theme of searching for God. . . and finding him, Maxed Out Mama writes a deeply personal story of her own spiritual journey. And she points us to another story of answered prayer that I have thought of many times this week since I first read it.

Sadly, Kobayashi Maru has just learned this week that his brother has a recurrence of leukemia, and the doctors are telling him he will not live to see Christmas. In the midst of his anguish, KM shares a remarkable story of hope and comfort:

My brother asked the priest an age-old question: what is this prayer thing? what am I supposed to do? how do I pray? The priest replied: prayer is like catching a butterfly; do not struggle and run after it; be still and it will land on you. Nice metaphor, he thought. Beautiful.

Priest leaves. Ten minutes pass. My brother sits quietly. My sister-in-law comes home with my niece who runs in the door ahead of her. Without saying a word, my niece runs to her toy chest, opens it and pulls out… a stuffed butterfly… and sets it gently in my brother’s lap. “Daddy”, she says, “I want you to have this because I love you very much.”