We need to take the time to remember events and special moments from the past, because in the busyness of life we are so apt to forget.
I believe that’s partly why we are given instruction to celebrate the Lord’s Supper/Communion/Eucharist - because we need reminders, we need to pause and remember the value of what Christ did for us in his death and resurrection.
This morning in our devotional/prayer time together my husband and I were reading the verse from Scripture to ‘forget not all his benefits’ (Psalm 103:2), and Spurgeon’s reminder on the topic was to pause and consider all that God has done in so many ways in our lives…and to praise Him.
Remembering gives our mind a point of pause, of considering, thinking, pondering and of re-visiting past events, experiences and people. It’s a point of learning and looking beyond the first glance. It’s letting old truths, lessons and joys sink in, as well as discovering new ones.
Well today I also did some ‘remembering’ and used my garden butterflies as the catalyst - as the tool for a journey of remembering….I first thought about a very brief wander in the garden a few days ago with my trusty camera, to see what new butterflies I could photograph. Since then I hadn’t even bothered to download the photos off the camera as I figured there were no new butterflies as all I managed were a couple of shots of a species of butterfly I have seen many times. In fact it was one of the first species of butterfly I ever photographed back in July 2017.
It felt a bit boring.
However, I was challenged that maybe instead of looking for the ‘new’ I should take the opportunity to look again at this ‘Pansy’ butterfly and just remember how pretty it is, and be ready for some fresh joy from ‘remembering’ and ‘re-looking’!
As I took a first look at the photos as I downloaded them, at first they didn’t even seem so great. I didn’t immediately see anything particularly interesting - although I was reminded how beautiful its iridescent ‘spot’ is.
But then in taking the time to just re-visit, I not only was reminded of his beautiful ‘spot’, but was blessed with some new lessons from this little creature.
1. This particular butterfly this time was a bit ‘broken’. He had bits of his wings missing.
Yet despite his broken-ness and being a bit ‘battered’, he (or she) was still beautiful. It’s easy to think that such photos are not worth keeping. It’s easy to want to aim for only photos of ‘perfect’ butterflies.
But if God only remembered his creation if it could present itself perfect, he would have abandoned it long ago. Despite us as human beings rejecting him, God loves his creation, he loves you and me, and despite giving him every reason to reject us forever, he took the initiative to make a way to offer us welcome back, in Christ. Yet this butterfly was also a reminder that in Christ, God doesn’t see our messed up state, he sees Christ’s beauty and perfection. But in that, he doesn’t ignore the brokenness but redeems the brokenness we experience because of this world’s sin. He chooses to remember our humanity (that we are but dust), but also to remember his Son’s sacrifice for us that enables him to look past our sin-ridden brokenness and instead at Jesus’ righteous beauty, which enables him to ‘remember’ our sin no more. This isn’t a perfect analogy, but it was good to be prompted to ‘remember’ what God ‘remembers’.
And thus praise Him.
2. Then as I looked further at my photos and remembered how this butterfly was one of the first that I photographed and was amazed at the spot that changes colour from white to mauve to purple and then to blue, I noticed that these new photos seemed to pick up the detail of the butterfly eye - something that I hadn’t noticed before.
So I zoomed in and took a closer look…and did a bit of research on the butterfly eye.
It really is an amazing piece of equipment!
Can you see the multiple ‘dots’ within his eye?
Butterfly eyes are made up of many smaller image forming eyes called ommatidia. One of the main advantages of these eyes is that it provides the animal with increased wide field of vision. In fact, it is said that a butterfly can see approximately 314 degrees around itself. This helps them identify potential predators and food or water sources. (https://australianbutterflies.com/butterfly-eyes-how-do-they-see-colour/)
In my other web-searching about butterfly eyes, I discovered that butterflies are also able to see polarised light and ultra-violet light which humans are not able to see.
Flowers have ultra-violet patterns that are invisible to humans but which can be recognised by butterflies. These UV patterns guide butterflies to the source of nectar in much the same way that runway lights guide an aircraft in to land.
I also learnt that along with most insects butterflies
have a pair of spherical compound eyes, each comprising of up to 17000 "ommatidia" - individual light receptors with their own microscopic lenses. These work in unison to produce a mosaic view of the scene around them.
and
The laws of optics show that it's likely that everything from about one centimetre to 200 metres will be rendered in sharp focus by butterflies, as their ommatidia are of very short focal length.
and
The sensitivity to changes in their visual field, combined with a high flicker-vision frequency of about 150 images per second, may also help butterflies to piece together the thousands of elements of the mosaic image produced by the compound eye. It is not known whether butterflies and other insects are able to merge these mosaic elements into a single image. If are able to do so, it would render them capable of distinguishing patterns at close distances.
Furthermore I discovered that a particular type of butterfly which I have previously photographed in our garden called the ’Skippers’ have an extra feature:
The eyes of Skippers are different from those of other butterflies. They have a space between the cones and rods which allows light from each ommatidium to spill into neighbouring rods, effectively increasing their resolution and sensitivity. As a result Skippers can fly very accurately from one spot to another. This different type of eye structure is one of the reasons why taxonomists place them in a different super-family to all other butterflies - the Hesperioidea.
This too was cause for me to ponder…that firstly, while the ‘thing’ I see or the situation I’m in might be non-debateable as to its existence, how I see it might not be the only way to look at it, to understand it or to benefit from it. Other perspectives might have validity. I might be able to learn something from another perspective. My vision is limited.
Secondly, it is a reminder that how God sees situations, reality, right and wrong, what is best, my life, the world, and the universe, is not how I see it. While my vision is limited and other people’s perspectives might have validity, I need to most-of-all trust, and submit to, and learn from, the One who is my Creator and the Creator of others and Creator of the world I live in. It is his perspective that matters most and is the primary lens through which I need to view the world, my life and others.
Pausing to re-look at the butterfly from the past, and remember its beauty was worth it.
AND
Remembering God’s perfect vision and his watching over my life, and how I can go to his Word to learn to see life through his perspective, was good for my heart. It was good to remember his loving care and guidance…
And thus praise Him.
What a blessing it is to take the time to remember…to look back…to recall God’s goodness, love and to ‘forget not all his benefits'
Good thoughts and very comforting.
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