Butterflies....

I have had the fun of "raising" four Painted lady butterflies...
They came in a jar with food as tiny caterpillars, crawling around their environment continually....growing quickly...until one by one they each attached themselves to the lid and turned into a cocoon..they remained that way for 7-10 days, finally emerging  quickly as a butterfly, ready to fly...short distances at first and then off they went...

I had them in a net "cage" furnished with flowers and sugar water, until
 all had emerged, ready to take wing and fly...so I asked my little neighbors (ages 4 and 6) if they wanted to help let them go...they nodded expectantly, so we captured each one and held them, putting each on a flower after watching them walk up our arms, tickling as they pranced lightly, finally going to the flower branch....and finally into the big world....

What fun...not only for me, but for us all.... then off we went back into our worlds...rejoicing at butterflies...

I checked the flowers later and found one still there, but on the ground, wobbling around...

You see, one cocoon dropped off the lid about two days into the change...
I wondered if it would still develop.  It did, but emerged with curled wings...so it flew crooked, not quickly as its fellow butterflies...it wobbled...

I picked it up and placed it, instead, in a bouquet of flowers, lavender, from the single flowers we had placed the others...lots of close blooms, hoping it would survive in the multitude, without having to fly much...

What surprises we can find in life...the joy of butterflies, the joy of smiles, the joy of watching, the joy the doing the unusual, the joy of friends, thank YOU...delights each one...in a sometimes harsh world...

Psalm 21:6 Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

Psalm 65:8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.

Psalm 96:12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.