Bugs, nature, God, and life
So I was on devotion walks the other afternoon when
I noticed a giant woolly mammoth caterpillar that was in convulsions as it was
crossing the road. Apparently it was trying to escape the hot pavement, but the
scorching sun was not going to let it escape in time before cooking to death.
So I got a tree branch and lifted the caterpillar across to
the road to some leafy shade. Then I doused him with a few drops of water to
cool him down, but the caterpillar had a violent reaction to any kind of
moisture (like the Psammead in Five
Children and It.) If a caterpillar ever could sneeze, that is what that one
did right there. Finally, I got my Geometry homework and started fanning him
with the paper sheets of Euclid’s
proposition 2.16 – to cool him down, and also to dry off the moisture.
Creationists vehemently oppose the idea that human beings
are mere evolved creatures, and for good reason. But I’ve found it easier to
love people when I consider that they (and me) are beings created by God, just
like hamsters or centipedes (although not quite.) "Observe, (scientist voice,) as human beings place their young in little carriages with wheels that they call 'strollers.' They will push their young around in these strange carriages, and they have strap restraints to prevent the young from escaping........"
One can go on a walk in the morning and just look around –
and be fascinated with everything God has created in nature? There is Mr. Darcy,
the heron that stalks around the pond on one leg in a ridiculously somber and
dignified manner. There are frogs in the drainage ditches, and if you overturn
some rocks in the water, there will be black bugs that will swim out from
underneath. Even in an urbanized place like Purcellville, you can find prairie
dogs poking their heads out of holes near the student life center construction
site.
I’ve always been fascinated by talking animals. Sometimes I try to imagine what a particular animal would sound like if it
could talk. Mr. Darcy, the heron, would probably put on spectacles, peer down
at the shallow water, and adopt a scowling old English professor’s voice:
“Hmmmm….no grubby minnows in the lake today. *Grumbles* I think I’ll pass.”
The wonderment of watching a small black beetle on a plant
stem – “Look – it’s eating tree sap.” This is what God has made. This is Life.
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