Several weeks back I bought some plants for our co-op art class.
Our project was to paint and decorate some terra cotta pots during class, and stamp witty sayings on them. I also bought some herbs for each student to plant in their pots.
Of course, I made one for myself as well, and planted some parsley… having read recently that parsley was one of the least used herbs and was such a great herb to have on hand, I decided I would give it a shot.
A few days later I noticed I had a little friend who popped up. There must have been his tiny egg on the plant and I didn’t notice. But there he was all adorable and tiny.
Our project was to paint and decorate some terra cotta pots during class, and stamp witty sayings on them. I also bought some herbs for each student to plant in their pots.
Of course, I made one for myself as well, and planted some parsley… having read recently that parsley was one of the least used herbs and was such a great herb to have on hand, I decided I would give it a shot.
A few days later I noticed I had a little friend who popped up. There must have been his tiny egg on the plant and I didn’t notice. But there he was all adorable and tiny.
He was so cute and instead of moving him outside, I decided we should have a little nature study with him and watch him grow and call him Frankie.
Each morning he was bigger than the one before, SO much so, I decided that we should be measuring him! I wish we had thought of that right away, because it was amazing how fast he was growing!
After a little research, we found that Frankie was a black swallowtail caterpillar.
Then one day I got up and couldn’t find Frankie!
I was worried! I looked around and found that there was a HUGE pile of goo on the windowsill! I thought he had been smushed! Frankie was no where to be found! He had fallen off into the back part of the windowsill. I picked him up and put him back in the parsley plant.
He was writhing and wriggling…
He wasn’t eating even though I had put him up to the leaves that he loved so much.
He was NOT acting like he normally does each day… I was concerned that the fall had injured him. And seriously… WHAT was that goo I had to clean up???
Ew.
I was quite certain that our little nature study was going to die.
But then after about 24 hours or so… guess what!
Frankie spun himself into his cocoon! We were so very excited! I know you can’t see in the picture, but there was the tiniest silk thread that he had attached to one of the parsley stems.
Around two weeks went by and then one morning Shannon got up and said,
“Hey, Chas! We have a butterfly!”
You have no idea how excited I was! I ran to the kitchen! I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. I ran to get the kids up! I sent a picture to Cameo who was already at work.
What a MIRACLE!!!!
Frankie had emerged from his cocoon and was now a beautiful new creation!
After all the kids saw him, we gently took him outside. I wanted to give him his best chance so I put him near some flowers to get some nourishment. Bless his heart, he had worked hard!
I was moved to tears thinking about how this creature was brand new. It made me think of our lives apart from Christ. Before Christ we are lost and undone, but once Christ enters our lives we are a brand new creature! Old things have passed away and behold, we are made new!
Frankie was a new creature and we are too once we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus.
The Lord has made such beauty in this life. So many things can be overlooked if we don’t have eyes to see His glory. Ask Him to open your spiritual eyes, appreciate what He has made and enjoy this incredible world He has made.
