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I’m ready for warmer weather, aren’t you? When I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, it was brutally cold in the middle of the United State. Wouldn’t it be nice to stroll through a flower garden and watch butterflies drifting between the blooms? Maybe I should have travelled south for the winter.
Speaking of butterflies, did you know that some varieties of the Monarch butterfly actually migrate for the winter? Beginning in late summer, the butterflies begin flying south from southern Canada. The distance from Canada to the over wintering sites in northern Mexico is over 4,300 miles!
While that is amazing enough, there is more to the story. Monarchs are the only butterflies that hibernate as adults. They congregate in large spectacular masses, hanging from the trees. Tourist can even tour the over-wintering locations. Yet the adults that arrive in Mexico for the winter, have never been there before. And, they never make it back to Canada. Butterflies only live a few months. Four generations of butterflies are needed to complete the annual round-trip. We don’t know how the different generations know where to travel. Yet nearly half a million butterflies are involved in the migration each year.
Many assume this all came into being by chance. That somehow, butterflies evolved into this complexity and beauty. I choose to believe that God enjoys beauty and created them to gently remind us of his intelligence and design. When you see a Monarch butterfly this summer, marvel at what God has made!
“Monarch butterfly migration”, last edited 15 February 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_butterfly_migration
Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.