The sunflower and the butterfly

The rain was pouring in sheets, and lightning struck the ground from the sk=
y. It was November in Illinois, storm season. A fresh gust of wind from the=
 North picked up a sunflower seed that lay on the road and carried it to th=
e edge of a field. The sunflower seed fell on the ground and stayed there t=
hrough the winter.

In the spring the farmer was planting corn and came across the first tender=
 shoots. He rolled over them with his plow. "This no-good weed," he mumbled=
, "takes the soil away from good crops." Then he continued planting corn se=
eds.

The sunflower seed survived and kept growing. One day the farmer's son was =
playing in the field and came across the young plant. He said, "What is thi=
s stupid weed doing here?" He struck at it with a stick and tore off three =
leaves. But the sunflower continued to grow.

One day a butterfly was flying around in the cornfield and found the young =
plant. The sunflower asked the butterfly, "Why am I here? Everyone says I a=
m no good and keeps trying to kill me. If I am no good, then why was I ever=
 born?"

The butterfly hovered gently over the delicate leaves and said, "You are a =
sunflower. You are in a corn field. The people here think you're no good be=
cause they are growing corn, and they think you're a weed. But a hundred ya=
rds from here, along the road, there are hundreds of sunflowers. They line =
the road and the drivers think they're very beautiful."

The sunflower asked, "Why am I here, where nobody wants me? Did other sunfl=
owers hate me?" The butterfly swept her wings around and said, "You are luc=
ky to be here. The other sunflowers get plucked and sold as food. Here, you=
 could grow up. Count your blessings."

And the sunflower praised God and grew up to be as tall as the corn. When t=
he farmer and his son saw it again, they marveled at it. "It must be a stur=
dy weed," the farmer said, "to have grown this tall under such conditions. =
We're not gonna touch it again." So they left it alone.

When August came, the sunflower was in full bloom and following the sun as =
it rose in the morning and went down at night. A butterfly came again and s=
aid, "See? Now you're all grown. Do you like yourself now?" "I don't know,"=
 said the sunflower. "You are beautiful," said the butterfly to the sunflow=
er. "You are beautiful," said the sunflower to the butterfly. And the butte=
rfly pollinated the sunflower.

One day the farmer's wife and daughter were walking in the field. The littl=
e girl said, "Look, it's a sunflower!" "Yes, dear," said her mother, "it's =
a sunflower. And it grew in a corn field even though your daddy tried to ki=
ll all the weeds. It must be a very special sunflower." "Let's pluck it for=
 good luck," insisted the girl. "No dear," said her mother, "it must have b=
een blessed to survive what it did. Kiss its leaves for good luck and then =
leave it alone."

The girl kissed the sunflower and then went home. Next morning the sunflowe=
r said to the butterfly, "I don't want to get plucked. I did not survive th=
is long this far away from home that I should allow myself to be killed." T=
he butterfly said to the sunflower, "Everyone dies, but if you rid your hea=
rt of darkness then you can live on in another form." "I need to repay the =
farmer's family for having raised me," said the sunflower, "and then I want=
 to help other plants." So the butterfly said, "OK, then let them have your=
 seeds and your petals, while you let your soul fly away with me."

The next night, while the mother was sleeping, the little girl went out int=
o the field and plucked the sunflower. She put it in a vase. When next morn=
ing her mother found the sunflower in the little girl's room, she got angry=
. She said, "This plant survives storms, winter and your dad's plow, and yo=
u kill it. Are there not enough sunflowers along the road, that you had to =
kill something so precious?"

The girl cried and became afraid. She said to her mother, "I will be forgiv=
en, right? I am a good girl, right?" The mother looked at her and said, "Yo=
u have to ask for forgiveness, and you have to pray."

The girl came up to the sunflower and said, "I am sorry." Then she prayed t=
hat the sunflower live on.

The farmer saw the sunflower in his daughter's room and said, "It is not by=
 accident that this plant lived while we were trying to kill all the weeds.=
 Perhaps it is trying to tell us something. I'll build a plot next to the c=
orn fields where we'll be raising sunflowers." And he cracked the plant, he=
 took out the seeds from it and put them in little bag to grow the next spr=
ing.

As he was plucking out the seeds, from the sunflower emerged a beautiful bu=
tterfly. She flew away and found her friend. And together they went on spre=
ading their blessings and knowledge to all the flowers that lived in the su=
rrounding fields.

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