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LESSONS FROM THE BUTTERFLY

Outward appearances are deceiving, so don't be too quick to judge.

Take caterpillars, for instance.  Some caterpillars are a thing of beauty, but most of them aren't much to look at.  They crawl around like colored worms, they eat leaves for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they have the personality of a sea slug.  How many people have invited you over to look at their caterpillar collection?  Few to none, I'll bet.  When God passed out good looks, he apparently skipped the caterpillars.

After caterpillars mature, they spin a silken chrysalis around their plump body, and they go into what seems like hibernation.  In the chrysalis stage, they're not much to look at either.   A chrysalis may represent outstanding engineering, but as a thing of beauty it's an abject failure.  Their chrysalis condo is simply their crash pad while God works the wonders of metamorphosis.

When the butterfly finally emerges from the chrysalis, a miracle has happened.  The  former ugly duckling is now a thing of beauty.  Colors splash across its wings, and the former slug like plant eater now enjoys the freedom of flight.  It spends the rest of its days flying from flower to flower sucking up the nectar of life.

Everybody likes butterflies.  These delicate flying palates of color remind us how much God loves beautiful things.  God didn't have to make them beautiful.   He could have made them look like flying slugs; just attach drab wings to a caterpillar's body, and the job is done.

Perhaps God made butterflies to teach us lessons about life and make us more tolerant and less judgmental.  We are all a work in progress and although were not butterflies yet, we can't become butterflies without first being caterpillars.  We've got to eat a lot of leaves and do a lot of growing before we blossom into our final state.  Just as you can't judge a book by its cover, you can't judge a caterpillar by its color.  The caterpillar might not look like much now, but when God gets done with it, it will become a creature of splendor.

Judging people harshly in their caterpillar stage is a big mistake.  They are a work in progress, and what you see is not the finished product.  Right now, a person may not look like much, but when God finishes working his miracle,  a new person painted by God's palette of love will emerge in awesome beauty.

Don't be quick to judge yourself in a harsh manner either; you also are a work in progress.  Your caterpillar stage might not seem like fun, but God knows what He is doing.  You have to be a caterpillar before you can become a butterfly; there is no other way.  God is working behind the scenes, taking care of the details, and things are going to work out.

God has a dream for your life that is better than you can imagine.  When you get into agreement with His plan, there's no limit to how good your life can become.

Dr. Dave

AND THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT!

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CLASSIC BLOGS FROM DR. DAVE


Pushing back the limits in your life

Pushing Back The Limits In Your Life

Many times I felt like I had taken things to the limit, but on further examination, it was clear I simply had enough. I was done and was unwilling to do whatever it takes to continue. Hitting the wall of absolute limits has never been a problem. The envelope of possibility is infintely large, and the likelihood of encountering absolute limits is infinitesimally small. There are no limits. There are only limiting beliefs.


Grand Schemes and Other Important Things

Grand Schemes And Other Important Things

In the grand scheme of things, my grand schemes seem fairly insignificant. In a global sense it's easy to feel as if my life counts for nothing, or at most, counts for little. When someone tells me that I shouldn't be doing things that are important to me, and that I'm wasting my life, they are really saying that my dreams don't count in their scheme of things. 


Daktari Without Borders

Living Without Borders

I am a daktari without borders. I am not sure when and where borders disappeared from my mind, but sometime in the last quarter century, I became a citizen of the world. Wherever I am on planet earth, I feel at home in my borderless world. Find out what it's like to live without borders.


Guilty of Living My Dreams

Guilty Of Living My Dreams

When my life is over and on judgment day I stand in the final line up with all the rest, I hope millions of people can point their finger at me, pick me out of the line up, and say, "He's the one. That's definitely him. He's different from the rest. He didn't conform, and he is guilty of living his dreams.


Negative Thoughts Are A Dream Stealer

Negative Thoughts Are A Dream Stealer

You are never safe from negation. Unchecked negativity can rapidly flush the achievements of a lifetime down the drain. If you ever reach your dreams, it will be because you stopped listening to the voice of fear and negation. You stopped looking at your limitations and stopped constructing barriers that exist only in your mind.


Everything Possible Nothing Impossible

Impossible Should Not Be In Your Vocabulary

Faith isn’t something that must be present before you move in the direction of your dreams. Rather it’s something that develops after you start moving. When you start out, you don’t see how your dreams are possible. Nevertheless, the moment you take the first step, faith instantly comes into your life. Never look at faith as the path to a life of leisure. God gave you faith so you could see things other people can’t see and do things other people can’t do.


Fear Doctor

Things I Feared That Never Happened

I could write an entire book called, "Things I Feared That Never Happened," and follow that up with a second book entitled, "I Feared The Wrong Things." Almost always, fear is a waste of time. Most of the things you fear will never happen, and you fear the wrong things. When the hobglobins of fear start dancing in your mind, it's time to refocus on other things. Learn how to squelch the voice of fear with a positive focus!


What Woud Steve Do?

What Would Steve Do?

For me, the dream is all about adventure, freedom, and being really alive. Although I like seeing the sights wherever we go, I think it's the sense of adventure coupled with the freedom to do what I want to do with my life, seasoned with a pinch of adrenalin that makes it all worthwhile.


Imagine, Believe, Receive

Imagine, Believe, Receive

The first step in moving toward your dreams is to doubt your limits. Once you doubt your limits, it's almost as if you are born again. You get an entirely new life with radically different rules of engagement. You enter the Promised Land of Imagine, Believe, and Receive. I know this to be true because I have been there.



Dr. Dave's Eclectic Blog - Positive Thinking Doctor - David J. Abbott M.D.

WHO IS DR. DAVE AND WHY IS HE BLOGGING?


More than two decades ago, Captain Dave (aka Dr. Dave) started writing and creating websites as he sailed around the world on his sailboat, SV Exit Only. Those early websites and books evolved into the Positive Thinking Network you see today.

Captain Dave lived overseas for twenty-eight years in his globe trotting lifestyle until he became a Flying Doctor with the Indian Health Service working for ten years in the American Southwest flying out to deliver health care to the Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, Havasupai, and Colorado River Tribes.

Dr. Dave completed his work with the Indian Health Service in Arizona, and now runs the Positive Thinking Network full time either from his catamaran or his Land Rover Defenders as he travels around the world

The Positive Thinking Network has a global outreach sending a positive message to 196 countries, and it is your definitive source of positive thinking on the World Wide Web. 

With hundreds of positive websites, and more than a million pages and podcasts downloaded each month, it's where you come to learn everything you want to know about positive thinking. The Positive Thinking Network focuses on positive self-talk, positive spirituality, winning the battle against depression, PTSD, and positive adventure.

Hundreds of family safe websites stand ready to fill your mind with positive things.

Dr. Dave and the Positive Thinking Network work around the clock to change the world, one person at a time, one web page at a time, and one podcast at a time.