Hi–Mr. Nature here.
One of the things I always miss about the summer, and look forward to seeing again the next year, is the tiger swallowtail butterfly.
The other day, while walking, I was lucky enough to see one up close: he was so busy working on a flower, he didn’t notice me gawking at him. What beauty! What grace! And if I can get this complicated link to work, here’s a video for you, http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=tiger+swallowtail+butterfly+video&FORM=VIRE3#view=detail&mid=4C3954D573937236AD144C3954D573937236AD14 . (Boy, will I be pleasantly surprised if this works!)
…Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made… Romans 1:19-20
For those of us who are called, the tiger swallowtail is more than just a butterfly. It’s one of innumerable examples of God’s handiwork, whose perfection testifies to His perfection. God’s creation is His witness.
But for those who are not called–or who have chosen not to listen–there’s nothing here to inspire praise or joy. You start with a bunch of mud and dust, pebbles and water, and by and by, purely as a result of blind chance, you get the tiger swallowtail butterfly, a field of Texas bluebells, or C.S. Lewis. As Rev. D. James Kennedy used to say, “Ain’t chance grand?”
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Romans 1:22
We do wall ourselves off from joy, don’t we?
P.S.: When I checked, and the video link worked, I cried out in exultation: “It works! It works! I’m flabbergasted, it actually works!” And my wife added, “That’s something God never has to say.”
Thank you for the gorgeous pictures. I have seen many of the black and yellow varieties in my back yard this summer, but the blue and green ones, I have not had the pleasure of seeing before. Such artistry!
I do love those tiger swallowtails! I’m also fond of monarch butterflies. Because their caterpillars eat milkweed, birds don’t eat monarchs, so they’re less fidgety than most butterflies. When I was a kid, I would sometimes catch a monarch and release it in my room so I could have it fluttering around. I always released it the next day so it wouldn’t starve.
Around here we also have blue-black swallowtails, and brown ones.
Ain’t chance grand!
Just the other day, I was thinking about how one of the things that distinguishes us from the animals is our ability to appreciate beauty. People say that ‘beauty is relative’ and ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ and to some extent that’s true. But every human being has something they find beautiful, and animals don’t.
I don’t know how I’d feel if a tiger swallowtail thought I was beautiful.