As I was working in my garden tonight, I was delighted to see five caterpillars (I think they’re monarchs) on my dill plant! What a treat to get such a close-up view of them doing what they do best–eating. I love observing the small, often unseen creatures in nature. As you may or may not know, the tag line to Only By Prayer says “where the sacred and everyday meet.” When I take time to stop and intently look at the little things in life, that is one way I am ushering the sacred into the everyday.

I ran into the house to get my camera to capture these fascinating critters. Take a look below. I was able to capture it in mid-bite!

httpv://youtu.be/RJTLZcVbrbo

The life cycle of the caterpillar and its metamorphosis into a butterfly (or moth) is a wonderful analogy to our lives with Christ. When we give Him control of our lives, He is able to transform our lives into a thing of beauty — to a degree that we would never be able to attain on our own. It does take some work on our part, though. Just like the caterpillars are muching away gluttonously to fuel their transformation, we also need to be taking in God’s word and participating in spiritual disciplines to grow. God has put the food in front of us, but if we don’t eat it, we’ll never realize the potential that He has given to each one of us.

Let’s munch away today!

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning —the fifth day. Genesis 1:20-23

Have you ever stood in amazement over God’s creation?

Maybe it was something massive and overwhelming that made you stop and stare, like a mountain or the Grand Canyon. I like to ponder the small things too. The absolute beauty and intricacy of a butterfly just takes my breath away. A butterfly will let you stand close enough to watch him unfurl his proboscis to sip sweet nectar from the flowers. But you need patience.

Jesus calls us to

                                      slow

                                                             down

                                                                                        enough

to notice the beauty God has surrounded us with in nature. Today, stop. Look around you. In what small thing do you notice beauty?