Colorful, graceful, beautiful: it circled around the little girl as if wanting to be with her; acknowledge her.
Jayme, our daughter-in-law, is a butterfly whisperer, and has passed her ability down to her daughters Gracie and Addie Sue.
Several years ago, she decided to attract Monarch butterflies and let the girls see how they develop into butterflies.
First, she needed the food the caterpillars needed to grow and that would attract the mature butterflies to lay eggs on the blooms.
She started growing milkweed in her garden. Slowly over the years the number of butterflies that came to her garden increased as the mature ones laid eggs, which hatched into caterpillars, and developed into butterflies that seemed to know the flight pattern to come back?
Can butterflies remember such things?
Now she keeps several plants, and the caterpillars hungrily devour them before going into the chrysalis stage.
Addie keeps up with the stages of the butterflies. She helps put the caterpillars in the net container with the milkweed where they will be safe from the hungry wasps that take them off and eat the heads!
Addie counts the chrysalis that appear in the container.
When the butterflies appear, wet and having to let their wings dry, Addie is so excited and pleased and can’t wait to see the beautiful butterfly appear.
After the new butterflies dry, and after eating the sugar water Jayme and the girls give them, the new butterflies have a few days to get strong before flying off.
Jayme noticed that when they released one set of butterflies, one in particular seemed attracted to Addie Sue. It came back again and again to light on her hand, her shoulder, and fly around her. The young butterfly seemed to want to be with her.
Jayme thought back to how Addie had held the little caterpillars and talked to them encouraging them to grow and be butterflies. She had touched them and crooned to them. She had made sure they had what they needed to grow. She had kept them safe in the net cage with the milkweed. With the innocence of a child, she had expressed love and care for them.
Did the butterfly know? Did the butterfly remember? Did the butterfly recognize her smell or the sound of her voice?
We don’t know.
But responding kindly and lovingly to other living things what we are supposed to do as stewards of our world given to us by God.
After all, “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” (Psalm 24:1) and we are told to “work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15)
So, maybe take time to talk to the butterflies?
