To improve is to change;
to be perfect is to change often.
Winston Churchill
When we are no longer able to change a situation–
we are challenged to change ourselves.
Viktor E. Frankl
“So do flux and reflux–the rhythm of change–
alternate and persist in everything under the sky.”
Thomas Hardy
(chrysalis for a tiger swallowtail butterfly / Julie Cook / 2016)
The parsley is almost all gone…
Decimated nearly overnight by the ravenous feeding frenzy
of the caterpillars.
I wondered about 22 caterpillars and where they might all go
once they finished gorging themselves…
and so now I see…
All rather amazing really.
See how it’s tied itself to the stem…
All wrapped up nice and neat…
and ready for a quick change sort of performance…
Butterflies, caterpillars, cocoons, or rather chrysalis, are perhaps the most
magically odd developments to transpire within the world of living creatures…
Yet this cycle of change is in a state of constant flux.
A butterfly spends it’s very short life feeding…
A caterpillar spends it’s very short life feeding…
A chrysalis spends it’s very short life in a constant state of change…
albeit it hidden from observation.
We don’t know exactly what or how things go on in that sack of theirs…
all we know is that a long worm-like thing goes in…
and then a brightly colored, light and fragile winged thing comes out…
Something so tiny, so minuscule, so fragile so odd and even oh so mysterious
can give me such great comfort and even needed solace…
That no matter the change that comes about in my life, in all our lives…
for we are ourselves also in a constant state of flux…
that in this most tiny creature and it’s miraculous cycles
lies the full mystery and depth of
a loving Father,
an Omnipotent Creator
and an overwhelming God…
that despite all that changes in my life…
for good and for bad
He is the One true Constant that I can hold onto with all great certainty…
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them,
for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Deuteronomy 3:16
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