The Butterfly and the Flower was an email received in October 2007.  The origination is apparently "funspirations."  A Google search showed it to be some sort of Yahoo group. I have used a little of the artwork from the email (with some reconstruction and special effects added) and have edited the wording and the flow of the text.  But the intent of  the lesson remains intact, a philosophy I wholeheartedly share, though struggle to remember.  

Once there was a man who asked God for a flower . . . .

. . . . and a butterfly.

The man was sad.  He did not understand why his request was mistaken.  Then he thought: God has too many people to care for . . . .  and he decided not to question it.

the unsightly caterpillar had been transformed into a most beautiful butterfly.

If you ask God for one thing and receive another . . . . TRUST.  You can be sure that He will always give you what you need at the appropriate time.  His way is TRULY the best way, even if it seems all wrong to us.  Today's THORN is tomorrow's FLOWER. 

2011 Note:  "Things are not always as they seem" and "trust in the process" and "in God's own time and way" are among the many worthy messages this parable expresses.  But, as I was thinking about this page one day, an additional perspective occurred to me.  If this man came to me seeking spiritual input after God's "unusual" answer, I would suggest he not walk away.  Rather, that he spend some time with the cactus and the caterpillar learning their beauty and worth, just as they are.  Too often we look at things, or others, praising what they might become, and completely miss that beauty and worth which exists already, now.  Opening your heart and mind will perhaps bring you to a place in your own spirit where the cactus is no longer something thorny and ugly, nor the caterpillar unsightly.