The Ugly Bug and the Beautiful Butterfly

Once upon a time in very cool place lived two wonderful children named Andrew and Lily. Brothers and sisters don’t always get along but Andrew, the older brother, had been in school for three years and he had learned not to fuss and fight with his friends. Lily was about to enter the first grade and Andrew wanted to help his younger sister escape the same problems that he had faced. Their grandfather Randy overheard the two little tikes arguing and decided to listen to the conversation. Andrew shouted, “I’m older than you are Lily, so you have to listen to me!” Lily shouted back, “But you’re not my boss.” Normally the two children played well and practiced the art of encouragement but on this occasion they found themselves arguing. Pappa Randy lifted himself from his easy chair and went into the playroom to cool the frustrated children. “Now, now, what’s this?” Pappa interrupted. Instantly both children began telling their sides of the story without letting the other speak. Pappa gave forth a hearty laugh and said, “Yep the bug got you, didn’t it.” His question deflected their argument. Andrew asked, “What bug?” Lily stood there a bit confused as Pappa answered, “The ugly bug.” Both children were eager to know what their grandfather meant so together they asked, “What’s the ugly bug?” Pappa Randy saw the opportunity to teach his two grandchildren about the unseen world and said, “Come in here with me and I’ll tell you about the ugly bug.” The two children followed their pappa and watched him scoot back into his big comfortable leather chair. Then they nestled closely to each other at his feet to hear him talk about the ugly bug. He began the story by telling Andrew and Lily to look into each other’s eyes and then he asked, “What to you see?” Wanting to bring humor to the story Andrew said, “I see Lily’s eyeball.” Little Lily giggled and responded with a laugh, “I see Andrew’s eyeball too.” “No, no,” chuckled Pappa. You have to look closer. The two eager children moved closer to catch a glimpse of the other’s eye. Pappa questioned Andrew, “Do you see yourself in Lily’s eye?” Andrew looked closely and much to his surprise he saw his image right in the center of her pupil. Lily said, “Pappa, Andrew’s eye is like a mirror. I can see myself.” “That’s right!” said their grandfather. Then he asked for them to do the impossible. “Now, I want you to look at each other’s heart and tell me what you see.” Both children looked quizzical but they were willing to learn. Andrew looked toward his sister’s chest and said, “I can’t see Lily’s heart because it is hidden inside her body.” Pappa began to teach, “You’re absolutely right Andrew but if you could see her heart, you would be right in the middle of it.” The two children looked sheepishly at each other as if to apologize for arguing. Then Pappa began to explain that there are some things we can see and others we can’t. The older teacher asked his young students another question. “Can you see your breath?” Andrew and Lily breathed at the same time just to be sure they couldn’t see their breath and then both agreed that their breath was invisible. Then Pappa said, “Even though we can’t see our breath we know that it is inside us and it keeps us alive.” Then he took them outside and asked, “Do you see the wind?” Andrew said, “I see the clouds move.” Lily said, “I can see the leaves move.” That’s right said Pappa, “We know there is wind because of the effect they have on other things. There is also an invisible world that we can’t see but we know it exists because of the effect it has on us. The confused children asked, “What do you mean?” Pappa explained that they had argued earlier because the ugly bug had bit them. He told them that the ugly bug is an invisible bug in the unseen world that makes brothers and sister argue and fight. In the spirit world, children who argue and fight look ugly and unattractive. Lily almost cried, “But Pappa, I don’t want to be ugly.” Pappa reassured, “I know you don’t. But there is a way to make the ugly bug go away.” “How?” They asked. Pappa thought for moment and said, “You have to make a beautiful butterfly appear and when there is a beautifully butterfly around then the ugly bug flies away.” Andrew quickly said, “Let’s go find a butterfly.” Tickled by the boy’s response, the teaching grandfather quickly responded. “You can’t see the beautiful butterfly because it is invisible like the ugly bug.” Andrew looked disheartened until Pappa said, “But there is one way you can know the beautiful butterfly is around.” Both children wanted to know. Pappa said, “The name of the beautiful butterfly is forgiveness and when you forgive each other, the beautiful butterfly comes and makes the ugly bug go away.” Then he explained that they had argued earlier because they were selfish and the ugly bug causes people to be selfish. But forgiveness drives away all selfishness. About that time the phone rang. Their mother, Stacey, had prepared their lunch and wanted the children to come home. Andrew took his sister’s hand and said, “Come on Lily, let’s go eat. Maybe we’ll see a real butterfly on the way home.” Pappa corrected him. “Andrew, the beautiful butterfly and the ugly bug are real. You just can’t see them. And the next time ya’ll come over, perhaps I’ll tell you about the day the invisible world became invisible.” The two children walked hand-in-hand through the back gate to go home. Their grandfather watched them until they reached the edge of their yard and he smiled as they walked into their kitchen to eat lunch.