It’s fall butterfly time. I remember in past autumns how butterflies feasted on fallen overripe pears, how a studious William worked diligently many afternoons making an insect display for his 5th grade teacher, including butterflies. I remember a beauty Charli netted and put in a jar for observing and releasing. I remember the one we found by the driveway, not broken or crushed, just dead, a yellow and black swallowtail with no more flight in its four wings.

This time of year the butterflies flit faster and higher as if they’re intent on soaking up every last bit of summer’s sun, every single fragrance and tasty delight. The bright little yellow ones fly across the yard, into the neighbor’s garden, and back again. Awesome swallowtails and monarchs clad in orange and black, yellow and black, or deepest blue and rusty gold light momentarily and then are off again to take in one more adventure.

I find it so interesting that butterflies feed on flowers through a straw-like proboscis, that they smell with antennae, and they taste with their feet. They are coldblooded so cannot fly at night as their cousins the moths do. Butterflies have four scaly, colorful wings and, true to the anatomy of all insects, have six legs. Who but our amazing God could have formed such fantastic critters!

According to a report from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, there are 160 species of butterflies in the state. Those butterfly enthusiasts who study their habits, life cycles, and preferred plants might likely have as many as thirty different species in their back yard. We are not so deliberately enthusiastic. We just enjoy the ones that come, maybe only four or five species, or at the most ten. Our main butterfly magnet is the yellow lantana which blooms from May to October. The butterflies are also attracted to our Mediterranean blue plumbago bush.

I love the analogy of the butterfly’s metamorphosis to a Christian’s spiritual growth. As Christians we, too, are transformed from “the darkness of the cocoon” to the light and freedom of life with Jesus. We are instantly transformed when we make a decision to be a Christ follower. But there is more. As we study and obey the words of God and grow more like Him, we’re transformed daily, or renewed crisis by crisis, as we walk dark valleys and climb rugged mountains.

Speaking of transformation, Charles particularly likes these words in Romans 12:2: And be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

In observing the butterflies these weeks of September I couldn’t help writing this poem.

Oh, butterfly,
Tasting every flower,
Flying high, dancing
In the sky,
Show me how
To make each moment
The best--
Each sip, each flurry,
Every tilt and turn.
To you
Time means nothing,
Every moment is the essence
Of everything.
From chrysalis to wing spread,
From blossoms below
To ever-stretching sky,
You're ready,
Beautiful and bright,
Making the most
Of your short life.