Butterflies & Time

 BUTTERFLIES & TIME

“You are my God.  My times are in your hands” Psalm 31:14-15

          “The butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough” is from a short poem, Time by Rabindranath Tagore.  What a concept!  This quotation pictures a complete turn-around from the present-day harried lifestyle of most people.

          I took these pictures of butterflies in the Butterfly House at the Life Science Museum in Durham, North Carolina a couple years ago.  The beauties above are called paper kites, while the interesting fellow with the big eye below is an owl butterfly.  I'm not sure what his fellow diners are called.

Consider the butterfly. This fragile little creature has a life span that varies according to species from three days to six months. Sadly, that means our intrepid little butterflies pictured here are no longer flitting around the flowers or eating oranges in the Butterfly House.

The average lifespan for an adult butterfly is 20 to 40 days. So, when we say, “The butterfly counts not months but moments…” that’s no exaggeration. The butterfly that lives for three days has slightly over 4,000 minutes to perform its entire life purpose – yet – the last part of that quotation reads, “…and has time enough.”

Although its life is short to our viewpoint, the butterfly does not frantically rush around trying to accomplish as much as possible. No, rather this dainty creature gently flutters its wings, flitting from flower to flower, unhurried, quietly doing its job. Along the way, the butterfly not only pollinates flowers and vegetables as God ordained, but also provides bright spots of delicate beauty for those who see it.

The butterfly with the white spots has the strange name of eggfly butterfly

The butterfly brings glory to God, its creator, during its short life journey because it faithfully performs the duties for which it was created – and it reflects the beauty and creativity of God by its mere existence. 

I think this little gal might be a Tiger Longwing -- cool name!

The lesson we can learn from this graceful creature is this: life is short, but if we faithfully perform our God-ordained duties, the days and years we are given will be just the right amount of time for us, and we can say as Jesus did, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do,” John 17:4

Like the butterfly, we are beautiful creations with a purpose. Let’s live that purpose for Him and we too will have time enough.