Always attentive to butterflies in our pollinator garden, when a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly glided by me as I waited for my dog, Shalom to finish her morning “sniffari”, I drew near it to watch. Captivated by the simplicity of surrender of these delicate beauties, I become mesmerized watching them on the gentle morning breeze. Yet there was something unusual about this visitor.
We see many butterflies in our gardens; the Tiger Swallowtails are most common, followed by Black Swallowtails, Monarchs, Giant Swallowtails, Painted Ladies, Red Admirals, and a few Red Spotted Purples.
Few things relax me more than sitting quietly watching a butterfly alight upon each blossom as it sips the nectar in what seems to me joyful abandon.
As this new visitor hovered over the pink echinacea flowers, I noticed its wings appeared asymmetrical—odd for a creature designed to show off symmetrical beauty in its wings. Moving closer, to my horror, I saw significant portions were missing from both lower wings. At first repulsed, after a moment I could not look away. Stunned, I watched the same simplicity of surrender to the breeze of healthy butterflies, carry the broken wings of this tragic creature from flower to flower with no extra effort.
In a moment, I felt sorrow for the creature—imaging how the damage occurred and the trauma of its hardship in negotiating life disabled.
Yet everything my eyes beheld spoke nothing of disability.
Perhaps I was anthropomorphizing, projecting my own feelings of inadequacy upon the innocent creature. My struggle with never feeling good enough seemed an outward manifestation of the damaged wings of the butterfly—declaring it was “less than.”
I sat with all of these thoughts and emotions watching the butterfly move about the garden as if it was unaware of its limitations.
Thanks to Glee actress Naya Rivera’s 2016 book, “Sorry, Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up”, where she says, “Butterflies can’t see their wings. they can’t see how beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.” The myth of butterflies being unable to see their wings circulated social media and other outlets for a while. (too bad her publisher dropped the ball on fact checking)
While this sentiment makes for inspirational drama, and an interesting object lesson for my disabled butterfly’s resilience, it is simply untrue. Which opens the door for an even better object lesson.
Among the many amazing features of butterflies, one is their nearly 360-degree vision. As insects with compound eyes, each of a butterfly’s two eyes has as many as 17,000 individual light receptors with microscopic lenses. These lenses create a mosaic of sight for the butterfly giving them the widest visual field of any wildlife creature. This feature also enables them to not only see their wings, but to see ultraviolet markings on other butterflies’ wings to identify possible mates!
Which means, the creature I perceived as tragic was fully aware of its broken condition.
Pondering the reality contained in this truth, led me to 3 lessons my brave butterfly taught me.
1. The knowledge of its limitations made no change in the fulfillment of its God-given purpose. It continued sipping nectar and carrying pollen from flower to flower according to God’s design.
How often am I sidelined in fulfilling God’s purpose for my life by thoughts of my perceived inadequacies?
2. The knowledge of its limitations caused no change in its contentment or identity. Its movements and nature seemed no different from the healthy butterflies in the garden.
How often have I been content, even pleased with a piece I wrote until I read someone else’s work, allowing comparison and feelings of being “not good enough” to overwhelm me?
3. The knowledge of its limitations did not prevent the butterfly from surrendering itself completely. It glided carefree on the breeze in the same manner as the healthy butterflies.
How often am I hindered by my focus on what I wish I was, holding back surrender to God because of my brokenness, feeling I have no value?
Perhaps the simplicity of surrender illustrated by my brave butterfly was a reminder that while surrender is simple, it is never easy. Surrender involves acceptance of what we have no ability to change. It requires courage to view our brokenness as a gateway rather than a hindrance or disqualification detouring our God-given purpose.
Butterfly Brave
Butterfly Brave
on delicate wings of lace
through summer breezes sail.
Unafraid you
step out free of fear to fly
drinking in beauty’s grace.
If only I
had courage within my frailty,
then would I behind the veil of beauty
pass, O butterfly Brave with thee.
If you enjoyed reading this post, there’s more! Sign up for my Substack; a little slice of serenity delivered right to your inbox!
Donna, I enjoyed this so much! God can certainly teach us a lot if we observe nature. My favorite part was when you said, “It requires courage to view our brokenness as a gateway rather than a hindrance or disqualification detouring our God-given purpose.” Brokenness as a gateway … much to ponder on this idea!
Jerralea, thank you for reading, praise God He pursues us even through creation to reveal Himself and His truths! I agree, brokenness as a gateway rather than a hindrance gives us much to ponder!
Oh Donna … I LOVE this post! Your three lessons are so encouraging. The whole post reminds me of how I’ve come to feel about the scars on my leg, which came as a result of my accident earlier this year. They’re not what anyone would call pretty, but to me, they represent God’s healing. I’m so thankful we can still fulfill God’s purpose for use in spite of–or perhaps because of–our limitations. Hugs, friend!
Thank you, Lois for your very kind words! I praise God this post resonated with you. I am deeply sorry for your recent experience, and yet I know God has been good. The more I ponder the lesson of the brave butterfly, the more I am reminded that Christ maintains His scars, even in heaven. I wonder if we, too, will somehow keep the scars of our journey as a testimony of His beauty, goodness and love?
Donna, it never fails to amaze me how much God has for us to learn as we soak in the beauties and intricacies of His creation. Thank you for taking us there with this post. Bless your weekend ahead, friend . . .
Thank you, Linda! I agree, I am almost dumbfounded each time I learn a blessed truth from creation!
Donna, this is a beautifully powerful post for which I am most grateful to have read! To think of that butterfly, fully aware of its brokenness, yet fulfilling its purposes is something I don’t think I will ever forget. “Surrender involves acceptance of what we have no ability to change. It requires courage to view our brokenness as a gateway rather than a hindrance or disqualification detouring our God-given purpose.” Acceptance and courage – praying the Lord gives me both so that I fulfill my purposes in Him! Blessings, sweet friend! May you keep on writing and sharing your wisdom!
Joanne, thank you for your very kind and encouraging words! I praise God for His tender lesson and words which resonate deeply. Sometimes encounters with hard realities bring the necessary perspective shifts which align us with God purposes not only for our lives but those of others around us. I am grateful for the way He speaks so clearly through His creation.