Early Morning ButterfliesThe Early Morning Woman

Dewdrops glisten on roosting butterflies at daybreak. As the early morning’s rays of sun touch the sleeping butterfly, these dewdrops start to evaporate and its body warms in the sunlight. When it is dry and its body is warm, it starts to move, opens and closes its wings a few times, then opens its wings to absorb the full benefit of warm sunshine on a warm summer morning. After a while longer, it flies off to eat breakfast and enjoy another summer day.



An egg drips with dew as the caterpillar inside is forming and preparing to hatch.



A caterpillar wears dewdrops as its early morning garment, while already munching away at its breakfast.



Dewdrops on a chrysalis shimmer and sparkle, like diamonds in a new engagement ring.



I enjoy wandering in the garden at daybreak with my camera on warm summer mornings. But that is the ONLY time I enjoy being up at daybreak. Until I discovered the beauty of dewdrops on butterflies, not even M&M’s could get me up early in the morning.

I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. Only butterflies, dewdrops, and my camera can coax me (with a smiling face) from my slumbers before daybreak. Any other type of ‘coaxing’ will bring me up from my slumbers, but not with a smile!

As I wander through my photograph files, looking at photographs I took early on summer mornings, I think of Proverbs 31; the ‘virtuous woman’. 'Early morning' has started to equal 'virtuous woman' in my mind.

I have never liked this lady. She sets an example that makes my skin crawl. Proverbs 31; 15 “She gets up while it is still dark”. This is the one verse I’d like to strike from the bible if I could do so.

(The full description of the virtuous woman is quoted below.)

I don’t mind all the other good things she does; but this one just hits my tender spot. I enjoy sleeping in.

Then I seriously look at this woman;
1. Good character
2. Works hard
3. Wise with finances
4. Provides food for her family and servant girls
5. She evidently works late into the night
6. She thinks of those not as fortunate as her
7. Her family and servants are adequately protected from the cold
8. She dresses very nicely
9. She is wise
10. She gives good advice
11. She is multi-talented
12. She provides income by performing several jobs
13. Her husband and children appreciate her
14. She is a hard act to follow

It’s good to have good examples. This woman is an imaginary woman who CAN be perfect. Whew. What a relief. If I imagined myself, I’d be perfect too!

I’m thankful for the living good examples in my life. My Mother stayed a woman of God, through easy times and through hard times. My sister Sandra, who in spite of the challenges of life, keeps a smile on her face and a bounce in her step. (And she rises at 4:30 in the morning.) My husband’s family’s maid, Janie, was another virtuous woman. Janie had hard times like few of us face. Her story would make a best-selling novel. No matter what, we could see Christ in her.

These women have their down times. They have their times of tears. They have my admiration and gratitude.

These show me that I can also be Christ-like. Their good qualities are encouragement to me; in spite of our human tendency to be selfish, we can be overcomers and live for others. Their mistakes remind me to keep my eyes on Christ, the only perfect example.

Proverbs 31
Sayings of King Lemuel
10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Butterflies accidentally poison themselves and die! Do we do the same thing?

Butterfly caterpillars can only eat specific plants and each species of butterfly has it own specific plant or family of plants they can eat. For example; Monarch caterpillars can eat only milkweed. Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars eat Cassia (Senna) plants. A female butterfly instinctively knows upon which host plants to lay their eggs.

But sometimes “Mom” butterflies get a bit confused!

Long-tailed Skipper butterfly caterpillars are a favorite of our grandchildren. The caterpillars cut leaves and fold these leaves over themselves to make a home. Like Hansel and Gretel, they often eventually eat the walls of their ‘home’.



Blue Pea Vine is a favorite of Long-tailed Skippers. It isn’t unusual to see stacks, clumps, or towers of eggs on the tender growth of this vine. The caterpillars hatch, start cutting and folding leaves, grow, a few weeks later pupate into a chrysalis, and a week or two later emerge as an adult butterfly.

Wooly pipevine (Asclepias tomentosa) is a host plant for Pipevine Swallowtails. Long-tailed Skipper females will often lay eggs upon Wooly Pipevine although it is deadly to their caterpillars. The caterpillars hatch, start eating this pipevine, and die.

I was surprised and asked Dr. Thomas Emmel, of the University of Florida, about Long-tailed Skippers eating pipevine. He said it has been noted that in some instances, Long-tailed Skippers will lay their eggs on Wooly Pipevine.

Once small caterpillars have eaten the proper host plant, they will not eat host plants that poison them. Sadly, because the eggs were laid on their the wrong plant, they started eating the wrong food and it killed them.

Watching these caterpillars reminds me of the things we wish we had taught our children when they were growing up, such as financial responsibility! If we had taught them young, most likely they would have held to their early teaching and avoided other 'food' (bad spending habits) that could be detrimental to them. But we didn't show as much financial responsibility as we should have and more is learned by example than by words. Hey, when things were looking bad financially, we always consoled ourselves by eating out (with five children) which only added to the problem.

So many bad habits (and even habits that are deadly to children) are taught by parents. I'm thankful for the good habits my parents taught me and for a Christian upbringing. I learned from my parents to feed on the right 'food' and avoid 'poisons'. Not that I didn't mess up from time to time. But their teaching saved me many heartaches.

What we feed upon is what we grow on! Or what we don't grow on ... when a female butterfly lays eggs on or near the right plant, the caterpillars will eat the right food. As parents, we humans have a great responsibility, just as 'Mom' butterfly has a great responsibility.

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

Proverbs 22:6 "Train [a] a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Ephesians 6:4 "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord."

Ants, Hell, and the Lake of Fire

Ants.

I see enough of those critters every day. In this photo, ants are carrying away Painted Lady butterfly Vanessa cardui eggs for lunch.

I watch them carry away butterfly eggs, eat living caterpillars, chrysalises, and adult butterflies, and have pulled my screaming young grandsons out of antbeds and wiped off hundreds of these stinging insects from their feet and legs as well as my children's legs when they were young.

I've felt the burning pain of their stings.

Burning pain. We think of burning with thoughts of torture. We think of hell with thoughts of burning pain.

This turns my mind to paintings, stories, movies, tv shows, comic books, books, and sermons which include hell. In many of these, Satan is presented and/or shown as the king of hell, torturing people who are under his whip and the whips of his henchmen.

Let's rethink this; God didn't prepare hell and the lake of fire for Satan as Satan's kingdom. He will not reign there, continuing to torment humans. That would be heaven for Satan. That's his passion, his joy, his love; tormenting humans.

God prepared the eternal fire, into which death and hades are thrown, for Satan. It is his punishment, not a reward.

What a blessing, with such depth that we cannot appreciate it, is the fact that Jesus took the punishment for our sins so that we can spend eternity with him and God. For those who accept Jesus as thier saviour and Lord, there will be an eternity with no death, no mouring, no crying, and no pain. God himself will wipe away our tears. God himself will live with us.

Revelation 21;3-4 "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Matthew 25;41 "... 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels'."

Revelation 20;10 "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. "

~ Edith