Yes, this post will be a departure from any of the political rants or philosophical diatribes opined by yours truly. But I couldn't help but realize the irony of the inspiration I received from a video about the migration of monarch butterflies... and the sound that the butterflies make when they are gathered down south in Mexico by the millions during the winter. The irony comes from the person who shared the video on social media; none other than the ultimate man's man; the man who taught me to be a man - my Dad! Man - has he mellowed over the years, haha! And the subject matter of the video brought me back to this picture I took of my son back in 2009, when he was still six years old.
Look at the picture. The pretty flowers in the background, in the vibrant yellow and white. Look at the greenery all around my boy, that lets you know right away - we were in a Nature Center. And there, perched on my son's shoulder in all its magnificence and humility, sits a beautiful monarch butterfly. Forgetting for the moment all about the beautiful curls in my son's hair that my wife loved so much, before he grew up to be a man's man himself; now all into tools of every kind and "fixin' things with his hands," this post that was influenced by the butterfly that landed on him in this picture, along with millions of its cousins in the video I watched - BEAUTY is not something this man or other men would really consider to be manly.
But wasn't it God's beautiful creation that got us here in the first place? Didn't the very first man, Adam, perform his first fruitful labor by walking through God's creation and naming the animals? Perhaps something like God's beautiful creation, is something we take for granted, and don't talk nearly enough about?
It was God's creation of something beautiful that helped me realize His reality. When I first witnessed the beautiful love a mother had for her son, as my mom thought my brother might die from drowning, and prayed that the Lord above save our 'little Daniel,' not only did I see the beauty of answered prayer; I also really saw the true love my mother had for her sons. The way she knelt down next to me, and tried to provide comfort, despite worrying about the fate of one of her other sons, lying on the ground with a lifeguard pressing on his chest... is there love more beautiful than that? The way my mom responded in that time of crisis made a permanent impression on a young boy, and her ability to show me just as much love as the little boy she almost lost to the little man-made lake at Bonclarken, showed my God's beautiful love. That realization is a major contribution to the Christian man that I am today.
God's beautiful creation reinforced my faith in a Creator even more, the first time I flew in an airplane. As we soared at 33,000 feet, and I looked out across the horizon of cloud, ocean, and sky, I remember being awestruck! I couldn't help but ask myself, How can anyone ever look out over all of this, and still not believe in God?
God's beautiful creation hit me like a freight train, the night I took my wife out to Steak n' Shake at the end of our "third date;" where I invited myself to the high school prom that my future bride chaperoned, as a teacher at that school. I told my mom, who was also a teacher there, that I was coming with her to the prom, where I knew a certain curly headed redhead would be. Late that night, sitting across from me at a little table in Steak n' Shake , I gazed into the most beautiful bluish white eyes I'd ever seen. On our wedding day, her hair and the bright white wedding dress made her beautiful smile and eyes pop out that much more. Who am I, as a man, if I can't appreciate God's beautiful creation in my own wife?
But do we realize the beauty enough? We get so caught up these days, with the trouble of this world. Perhaps slowing down to appreciate God's beautiful creation, can help remind us to behold; He has overcome the world!
I watched the video about the monarch butterfly migration, and the narrator found a quiet spot to sit, away from all man-made things, and let his own camera recording pick up the sounds of millions of butterflies flitting about and landing in trees. The sound itself was something of beauty; it was very faint, but the more you listened, the more it sounded like a slow trickle of water, growing into a light, steady stream that echoed out into the forest. Do people really think such things as beauty, whether through sight or sound, all came about by some cosmic accident?
I look again at the photo of my son when he was almost seven, and the intricate and many curls of hair on his head. It is said in the Bible, God knows every hair on our head. Then I look at the butterfly perched on his shoulder, in full orange and black and yellow detail. The structure and pattern reflected between both wings... and someone wants to try to tell me that it all just happened that way? What kind of ludicrous amount of faith does one need to believe that malarkey?
There is so much beauty for us to behold, all around us. If it's raining outside, there are few sounds more beautiful than a drizzling rain. The bright sun when it brightens a blue sky; the light reflecting off the muscle and hair of a black horse; the sparkle in a friend or loved one's eyes as you know you've done something to make them smile? There is beauty everywhere. This crazy and wild Information Age we live in now, often detracts from it.
Don't let it. Look beyond the distractions. Slow down and listen. Slow down and look around. Be observant of God's beautiful creation, and marvel. Pay attention, look and listen close, and realize, you and I are all part of it.