Ponder the Painted Lady
This week, on a perfect bank holiday's afternoon, I noticed that a tree in my parents-in-law's garden seemed positively alive. Its white blossom was smothered with delicately flapping, orangey wings.
On closer inspection, we found that it was festooned with Painted Ladies, the beautiful butterfly that arrives, at around this time of year, from Morocco.
It's truly humbling to consider how, each spring, these wafer-thin flying machines somehow decide, en masse, to traverse the Atlas mountains and head to our shores for the summer. Travelling at around 30 mph, they make their way through Spain and France and eventually cross the Channel, finishing their journey as far north as Scotland.
And this year, the migration looks set to break records, thanks to perfect conditions in North Africa back when the caterpillars were emerging. An orange cloud of up to 18,000 Painted Ladies was spotted off the coast of Norfolk over the weekend.
The butterfly is a wonder of nature that speaks to us profoundly and poetically, if we allow it. The metamorphosis of a caterpillar into such an object of winged beauty is surely one of the most eloquent expressions of transformation we could hope to receive from the Creator.
It does not serve simply as a sermon illustration for our benefit, however; it is mystery, one that happens simply, effortlessly, miraculously, in its own right, and in its own time.
That this wondrous cycle also includes such an epic journey, and an equally impressive flight 'home' for the pilgrims' children - the parents die here, but their offspring return to Africa in September, heeding another mysterious call - is truly awe-inspiring.
Sometimes, it is enough simply to take notice of such things, and allow them to speak to us, as deep calls to deep. 'Consider the lilies of the field,' said Jesus (Matthew 6:28). He didn't say this just to illustrate the important point, 'Do not worry'; but because it is a crucial spiritual discipline in itself: to observe, and contemplate, the way the natural world simply 'is'.
The delicate design, the homing instinct, the range of flight, the change in form, the colour and beauty, the place within the created order... there is so much to behold, as we gaze upon even one of these creatures on a May afternoon. And with record numbers on their way, surely no one can say they're too busy worrying about tomorrow to notice.
Brian Draper
Brian Draper runs Echosounder, a small practice, which nurtures spiritual intelligence in individuals and organisations. His new book, Spiritual Intelligence: A New Way of Being, is published on June 19 by Lion Hudson. Click here for more details.
Action Points
Read Luke 12:22-34, where Jesus talks about considering the ravens and the lilies.
Choose something to consider, and really consider it. It might be a butterfly, or another example from nature. Spend half an hour in complete silence, contemplating that thing. Allow yourself time to actively consider what you can learn about your own life from its example.
Go for a walk. Do not take an MP3 player, but walk in silence. And don't go out 'for a think', but instead, notice what you notice. (You might wish to take a notepad and pen, and write down anything that comes to you.)
Use the example of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly to reflect upon who you are, and who you are becoming, as a child of God.
The journey ends here for the adult butterflies, but the children continue both the cycle of life, and the epic journey. Consider how you are part of a cycle. Who are you handing over to? And how does the finite nature of your own journey help you to walk with more grace and humility? What more can you learn from the example of the butterfly?
Links
'A Flash of Orange - It's Britain's Biggest Butterfly Invasion' - Patrick Barkham writes about the Painted Ladies in the Guardian
Mark Easton has written for the BBC about the butterflies here
Help Butterfly Conservation to track the Painted Ladies here
You can send photos of the Painted Ladies to the Guardian, for a competition. For details, click here
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