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| With the arrival of June in the Northland comes the syrupy fragrance of lilac's drifting through the damp summer air. Here, a Monarch butterfly flutters to a stop on fresh blossoms, looking for a snack of sweet pollen.
The Monarch butterfly is one the most easily recognized and beloved insects in North America. With its vivid orange and black markings and erratic flight patterns, it brings a touch of uplifting joy to everyone that sees it.
Each adult butterfly lives only about four to five weeks. But one of the many wonders of the Monarchs is the annual creation of a unique "Methuselah generation" (Methuselah meaning "Long Life" and was a person in the Bible who lived 969 years). As autumn approaches a very special generation of butterflies is born. Unlike their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents -- all of whom had short lives measured only in weeks -- these migratory butterflies survive seven or eight months.
This generation performs the incredible feat of flying from Canada and the United States to the center of Mexico -- after which they begin the northward journey again. Once they reach the United States, a kind of relay race begins: their short-lived offspring, with only four or five weeks to live, continue making the trek northward over several generations.
Sometimes God uses the little things of His creation to show us how big He is.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. 1Co 1:27 |
