It's Caterpillar Season!
Miracles Happen Every Day
Caterpillars: One of Mother Nature’s little miracles. It’s amazing to watch how caterpillars completely change forms into something totally new and beautiful. Many a story or poem have focused on the idea of morphing from something so ordinary into something beautiful and different. Caterpillars are more commonly found during summer and fall, right before the butterflies fly south for the season of winter. The idea that in order for the caterpillar to survive that it has to change forms and grow is fascinating to me.
Caterpillars come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, and yet, they all still have to go through metamorphosis no matter what type of caterpillar/butterfly/moth they are. They have to go through four distinct stages to survive: egg, larva, (caterpillar) pupa, (chrysalis or cocoon) and adult (butterfly or moth). This process is an age-old process that is old hat to butterflies, but never fails to be less fascinating.
I recently found a few monarch caterpillars in my front yard where we have a wild milkweed plant that has just grown up by our air conditioner since we moved in. Neither of us had planted the milkweed, it just grew right there. To me, that is another of nature’s miracles; that a plant as important as milkweed can just grow wherever it wants to, even in a rock garden by an air conditioner. Every year, I look for any monarch caterpillars that might appear on the milkweed leaves. We have had some over the years, but this year, I’ve found at least three, and one of them is already in the third stage of metamorphosis-the chrysalis stage. It created its own little shelter, its chrysalis, from its own body, creating a safe-haven from wind, rain, and predators. That is insane and amazing that a single creature can create a shelter by its own body and completely change its physical shape within two weeks! I’ve been keeping tabs on the chrysalis to make sure it’s progressing in a healthy way, and making sure it’s been safe from the recent heavy rains we’ve had. To me, this caterpillar is a little miracle.
After stopping and taking a minute to really look at the details, take in nature, and find something so small that would be easy to overlook, it got me thinking. How often do we just overlook flowers, nature, our daily surroundings that we take for granted? How often do we stop and really look around us, and realize how many of nature’s and life’s miracles happen every day?
I realized that I do that too often, and it made me stop and really appreciate what is around us. From really paying attention to my garden and how the flowers are growing, to the tree and the specific birds that eat off our bird feeders. From having a conversation with my family, to playing with my dog. I stopped to really appreciate that I have that in my life.
Once I really stopped to look around me, to take in my garden, the trees, the neighborhood, the same city surroundings that I see on my drive to work every day, I started to appreciate it more, and was even more thankful for what I have and where I live. I feel grateful every day, but this time I really meant it and felt it through nature reminding me of the simple things; the little miracles that happen whether we are looking for it or not.
It’s similar with our day-to-day life; miracles and blessings happen whether we asked for them or knew of them or not. But if we stopped to appreciate what is happening or really, truly, take in the moment, then we are truly living, truly happy. There’s those moments that you know will follow you the rest of your life; good moments that are imprinted in your brain. Take a minute, take a snapshot of that moment in your head, and screenshot that; save it for a later date when you need a pick-me-up. These blessings, these moments when you feel like you’ve been given everything you need, that you have everything you could ever want or ask for and more, are worth more than rushing through life or just going through the motions.
Take the caterpillar for example. It goes on with its life whether we are watching for it or not. Its little miracle continues to happen. But if we take time to appreciate it, realize that we are experiencing something beautiful, meaningful, and to feel like we are a part of it, is something more, something bigger than all of us, and doesn’t that feel amazing? When you take the time to appreciate the good things that are happening in your life, and even if things feel bleak sometimes, there are always good things to look for, you feel more complete and feel hopeful that things are good, and it’s all going to work out. When going through harder times, it is tough to have a perspective like this, but on the other side, when things are good again, you feel your shoulders drop, your stress ease, and you can really take in the moment, and appreciate what you went through to get here. Just like the caterpillar, you went through stages to get to the moments where you can appreciate the final, beautiful stages of life’s miracles that are happening to us on the daily.
So the next time you go through the motions on your way to work, or to let the dog out, or to water your plants, take some time to look closer. Look at the details, the tiny creatures that make up our world, and who knows-you might just stumble upon your next miracle!
~Alyson Winn-Lagergren~
