Influences Inside and Out; Crippling and Killing

Watching a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis is an amazing experience. Sometimes the butterfly emerges crippled or never emerges. After years of raising butterflies, we have learned why some of these problems happen.

There are several reasons:
1. An outside influence damages the chrysalis
    a. A twig or stem is touching it as it pupates and deforms the chrysalis
    b. A predator kills it before it emerges
    c. Weather conditions causes it to dehydrate, cook, freeze, or drown
2. An inside influence causes problems
    a. Disease cripples or kills the butterfly in the chrysalis
    b. Parasitoids eat the guts of the chrysalis
    c. It didn't eat enough as a caterpillar and does not have enough strength to complete its metamorphosis and emerge



In some cases, someone closely watching the caterpillar or chrysalis could save it from crippling and/or death.
1a. When the caterpillar hangs in a J, leaves and twigs around the caterpillar can be trimmed if they are too close
1b. The caterpillar or chrysalis can be covered in a sleeve to protect it from predators
1c. The chrysalis can be moved to a safe territory if weather is threatening it with unsafe butterfly conditions
2a. In nature nothing can be done; in a farm situation, eggs can be sanitized to kill disease particles
2b. A sleeve can be used to protect the caterpillar or soft chrysalis from parasitoids
2c. If the caterpillar has run out of host plant, additional plants can be brought to the caterpillar or the caterpillar taken to other host plants


As I watch these sad happenings again and again, I'm reminded of the dangers to which we are exposed as we live day to day, preparing for the time when we will emerge into eternity with God. There are negative influences on human souls also, from within and from without.


From the outside, people often damage us. Sometimes the damage is intentional; sometimes the damage is unintentional. Unlike caterpillars and chrysalises, in many instances we can choose who/what we are around.

We have God watching out for us. This doesn't mean that we won't be hurt. But God will preserve us through it. David didn't write that God kept him FROM the "valley of the shadow of death". He wrote that when he was walking "through the valley of the shadow of death" that God was WITH him.

People can't be inside us, helping us in our fight. But no matter, inside our inner beings, we are not alone with our carnal selves, our negative thoughts, and our negative motives. Jesus, our Father, and the Holy Spirit live within us.

What can help us is prayer. God is there. When I prayed in years past, I always prayed to the God in heaven, the God above. My thoughts went upward to the one who has all power and created all things. As I face things that are outside of me that threaten to cripple me spiritually, I still pray to the God above who has power to move things around me and influence things around me.
And I pray about things inside me that threaten to cripple me. Pride, judgmental attitude, and many other 'parasitoids' try to take control of my inner self.
One day I prayed a bit different. I didn't pray to the God above. I prayed to the God within me. I focused my thoughts inward, inside my very being. Not to me but to God within me.
What a difference! Although I always knew that God is inside me, it brought the realization home in a new way. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are INSIDE me where those 'parasitoids' are struggling to devour me. God is inside me working his work and protecting me. We're a 'team' inside me. I am NOT alone inside me. He is there to strengthen me in my fight and/or to fight the battle for and with me.
It's a concept that I find difficult to explain; praying to God within me. But is has been a blessing and strength for me, this 'new' direction of my prayers when I need help with what is inside me.

Think of it this way: there is a fire in a yard and someone inside a house is calling out to a person outside to put out the fire. That is the way I pray when the enemy is outside of me. When the enemy is inside of me, it is comparable to a house with the kitchen on fire and the person inside the house is asking a very capable person inside the house to put out the fire.

It's something I've always known, that God is inside me. But somehow praying with my thoughts focused on God who is dwelling inside of me instead of toward God in heaven has helped me in new ways.
Romans 8:7-11

"... the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot.
8So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
9But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His C)
10But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of righteousness [that He imputes to you].
11And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you."

Follow the Leader MothsFollow the Leader People

IO Moth Automeris io caterpillars sting. Adult IO moths are soft and fuzzy, unable to hurt anything.


(Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

As caterpillars (watch out, they sting!) they followed each other to fresh food when their host plant (Hackberry Tree Celtis sp.) had been stripped of all leaves. Nose to tail, they go up and down, over and under, until a new plant has been found or they eventually starve. If the front caterpillar finds food, the followers are able to eat.


BUT when they lose their trail, they are some confused cats! Four caterpillars here have lost their trail and are circling one caterpillar sitting still on a Hackberry Tree Celtis sp. stem.

Common sense is not the most noticable attribute of these caterpillars.

I'm often like that. I blindly follow someone or some idea without thinking things through. Whether it's something I want to purchase, a place I want to go, or an attitude, I tend to follow the person I'm with at the time. Good or bad, I tend to follow.

That's what happened with the caterpillars in the last photo ... they simply blindly followed each other. Of course, that's what is happening in the middle photo too. But in the middle photo, they found food. The bottom photo shows them as they went in circles around, around, around, around ... apparantly not noticing that they weren't going anywhere.

Watching IO moths (Automeris io) remind me that I need to be careful who I follow. Even the best people in the world make mistakes! But we can follow each other's examples to a certain extent.

Luke 6: 39-40 “Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.”

There is one logical choice about who we can follow completely; the person who never made a mistake, of course, Jesus Christ.

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.”

1 Peter 2 “1 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered[k] for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
22 He never sinned,
nor ever deceived anyone.[l]
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly.
24 He personally carried our sins
in his body on the cross
so that we can be dead to sin
and live for what is right.
By his wounds
you are healed.
25 Once you were like sheep
who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd,
the Guardian of your souls.”

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.

Butterfly PredatorsSoul Predators

Butterflies have a fairly easy life; it is their death that is hard.


The natural death of butterflies is to be eaten alive.


From a spider to a katydid ...




... from a praying mantis to a robber fly ...


... there are hundreds of different kinds of predators just looking for lunch. Day and night they're all around, searching.

Don't we see this everywhere we go? Uh, I mean, for us as Christians!

The devil is out there at work, in the car, in stores, in movies, in magazines, in newspapers, out there EVERYWHERE searching for anyone he can devour also. He even enters our home when he can.

Butterflies don't have protection; we do. God is watching out for us. Our bodies will be lost, like the butterflies, but our souls are eternally protected.

We can see in ways butterflies cannot see. We can determine from where our spiritual attacks come. We have each other to help watch and protect us. Most of all, we have God that protects our souls. The only reason we need fear is if we do not watch out and let the devil take us.

I Peter 5:8-9 "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings."

Mark 14:38 "Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Butterfly Metamorphosis;People Metamorphosis

One of the first lessons we teach at our butterfly farm is the miracle of metamorphosis. A caterpillar, commonly called a worm, is the same animal as the adult butterfly. A chrysalis is the same animal as the caterpillar and the adult butterfly.

As we do presentations, we show photos of an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult butterfly. We ask, “Which is a butterfly?” Of course, the answer is, "The one with wings is the butterfly".

“Hmmm,” we respond, “so a child is not a person and a teenager is not a person?” At that point we become the object of many a perplexed gaze. We explain that a caterpillar is a ‘child’ butterfly. A chrysalis is a ‘teenager’ butterfly (although it doesn’t make noise, eat us out of house and home, hog the phone or computer, or be bossy to younger siblings like many a teenager human).

Butterflies undergo a complete metamorphosis. Each stage of life appears as if it were a totally different animal. It is a complete transformation.



Metamorphosis is a good representation of our transformation from our old person to a new person in Christ. We’re quite comfortable as a caterpillar. We know who we are even when things are not quite the way we’d like them to be.

The caterpillar must cease from being a caterpillar. It has to become something totally different, in many ways, from what it is. This process is called ‘pupation’.

First, a caterpillar literally loses its skin, legs, and ‘head’ to become a chrysalis.

We do the same thing to become a Christian; our old legs/arms took us places and did things that our new person in Christ should not go/do.

A caterpillar can ‘see’ light and darkness with its eyes. (These three dark spots on the side of its head are some of its eyes.)

Our old eyes were un-Christ-like; looking at things with envy, staring with hatred, and other things eyes should not do.

A caterpillar loses its mouth to become a chrysalis.

A caterpillar eats and is known to cannibalize other caterpillars and even chrysalises.

We were known to say things we shouldn’t before we became Christians.

A chrysalis seems to be doing nothing. But inside, it is changing completely. New legs, head, mouth, and wings are being formed.

The process is quick for a caterpillar. It takes three minutes for a caterpillar to become a chrysalis. A chrysalis may take from five days to nine months to become an adult butterfly.

Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth, “are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory”. Ever-increasing; our change isn’t so quick.

We take a long time to change and in the changing, we still say and do things we shouldn’t. How we wish it could be a quick change like it is for a butterfly, we’d drop all the carnal parts of us that are so painful to God, our loved ones, other people in general, and ourselves.

Then the adult butterfly finally emerges; able to do things very different from a caterpillar.

A Christian emerges and is very different than the earlier version of him/herself.

A butterfly is able to soar far above the ground. It is a totally new being - yet is the same being that hatched from an egg.

A Christian is a mix of a chrysalis and an adult butterfly. We’re still forming. God isn’t finished with us yet.

Our final version will be quite different than even the ‘best’ Christian on earth. The final version of a Christian is one with a new body, spending eternity with Christ. No longer will we do and say things we shouldn’t; things that bring tears to God’s eyes. We won’t say and do things that bring tears to the eyes of our loved ones.

Romans 12:2
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

2 Corinthians 3:18
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect [Or contemplate] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Philippians 3:21
“Who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

Caterpillars; Socialize or Fight? Christians; Fellowship or Fight?

IO Moth caterpillars Automeris io socialize; they tend to stay in a group the first week or two of life. Gold Rim (Polydamas) Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars Battus polydamas behave the same way. Several species of butterflies and moths stay together.

Then there are the Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus and Palamedes Swallowtail Papilio palamedes butterfly caterpillars. Wow! While working at our butterfly farm a couple of years ago, I watched these caterpillars behaving in a very different manner. When more than one caterpillar climbed onto the same leaf, they were not happy to be together. Quite often one caterpillar would force its head underneath the side of another caterpillar, lift sharply, and simply flip the other caterpillar off the leaf onto the ground! After watching this happen dozens of times, I started naturally calling them my 'little bulldozers'. The rascals.



These two species of swallowtail caterpillars remind me of how we, as Christians, often 'work together’. We tend to fight each other rather than fight our true enemy. We become sidetracked and focus on little things that we differ upon rather than focus on Jesus, the big 'thing' we agree upon.



For example:

Christians find themselves gossiping, sometimes excusing their gossip as ‘prayer requests’. “We need to add so-and- so to our prayer list because he/she is blah blah blah.” Instead, we should simply pray for them and, when possible, to help them.

Christians tell other Christians that they vote for the wrong party rather than spending time encouraging each other to pray for wisdom and for our government officials and to vote after praying to God for this wisdom.

Christians criticize fellow Christians … we aren’t as near as faithful about praying for them as we are about sharing ‘prayer requests’ (gossip) and (with the wrong attitude) ‘teaching or instructing’ them.



We should be praying for them and reaching out to help instead! Some things are better not added to prayer lists in detail.

Praying brings a double benefit; first, we’re talking with God AND bringing to our attention the one who needs help. It brings the person we’re paying for to our attention and as a result we often think of ways we can help them.

So how do I recognize these and other ways Christians fight each other instead of our enemies? I’ve heard myself say and do the very things that I would expect from an enemy; rather than from one who is supposed to be standing firmly by the side of a fellow Christian.

We don't do these things intentionally or to cause problems for our brothers and sisters. We do them without realizing the damage we can cause. We don't realize that we are allowing Satan to use us as his tool when we speak against our brothers and sisters. We can pray for them and help them, we can disagree in a positive method; we only need to stop and think before speaking.

I, as a Christian, should spend my energy fighting our true enemy rather than causing problems (unintentionally or intentionally) for others. I should be fighting the ‘powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil’instead!

Too many battles and too much persecution are caused by fellow Christians rather than by the enemy, Satan.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Butterflies, rattlesnakes, and Jesus

I was out taking photos of Gulf Fritillary caterpillars. This area in the pine woods was sunny without much shade. The trees weren’t full at the top, letting in a great deal of sunlight. Gulf Fritillary butterflies lay eggs on passionvine in the sun and the area was full of passionvine and blackberry briers.

Now I see several poisonous snakes every year as I wander through the fields and woods taking photos of butterflies, caterpillars, plants, and more …

… but this one, it was a rattlesnake. It was BIG! Well, at least it sure seemed big. Now that I’m not toe to fang with it, I can say that although it was a chunky one, it was only about three feet long.

I wondered as I backed slowly away from this particular rattlesnake; what would happen if I died while photographing butterflies in the woods and fields? Some places where I wander are a mile from a gate; dirt roads without houses in the area. I sometimes wander in and out of brush and briars for hours on end (and I will never admit to being lost but it does take me an hour every now and then to find my bearings). Suppose something did happen to me and I wasn’t able to get out in time?

Immediately the thought came to me, I know what people would say; 1) “I knew she shouldn’t be out there alone” and 2) “She died doing what she loved to do”.

I was thinking about Jesus and how he died. He died doing what he loved to do, so to speak. He wasn't enthuastic about dying on the cross, that isn't what I mean. He prayed that if the Father was willing, that the Father would "take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done". No, dying on a cross was not his ideal way to spend the last day of his last week.

The Pharisees were very judgmental, looking down upon him because he spent time with ‘sinners’. He spent time with his closest friends, of course, but that wasn’t his primary purpose here on earth. Spending time with ‘sinners’? Yes, this was what Jesus did – spend his time with those who needed him. Sadly, not all ‘sinners’ accepted his words. He was not able to save them all but he did save many.

He spent much of his time doing the same thing he was doing when he died.

I thought of how Jesus died. He died as he lived, among ‘sinners’. Literally, he died between ‘sinners’; two criminals. And just as earlier, when his feet were on the ground for 33 1/2 years, he wasn’t able to save both; but he did save one of the criminals in his last hours.

Too many people blame themselves for not reaching the hearts (for God) of every person they love or care about. Their family, friends, children, parents, siblings, spouse, co-workers; they cannot turn their friends and family to accept the gift of salvation. They become depressed and hold themselves personally responsible.

But Jesus himself didn’t reach everyone’s heart. If Jesus couldn’t, how can we expect ourselves to do so?

We need to simply do the best we can, be joyful, and let go of self-blame. Unjustified self-blame is a tool of Satan. How he loves to weigh us down with this burden so that we can’t do near as much for God as we’d like. If we’re bogged down in unjustified self-blame, how can we shine and reach out with joy and love?

Now I’m not ready to die from a rattlesnake bite out a mile from anywhere and if it's God will, I'd rather not die that way at all.

But I am ready to learn from Jesus; don’t blame myself for not helping everyone. But I don't need to use that as an excuse not to try to help others either!

I need only to do my best and let God take care of all the rest.

Luke 22:42
"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

Mark 2
15While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
17On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."


Luke 23
32Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."[e] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
36The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
38There was a written notice above him, which read:|sc THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[f]"
43Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."