A Healing Moment - Joyful Lightning Bugs by Donna L. Watkins - The Herbs Place

Joyful Lightning Bugs
by Donna L. Watkins

Why did God make lightning bugs?  Here is this rather ordinary-looking flying insect, but wait … it has a glow-in-the-dark fanny!  What was God thinking? 

I’m sure science has many explanations about how this fluorescent fanny is useful for mating or something, but why did God choose to make a glowing bug? I wonder if when God was creating all the animals and bugs, he came up with the idea of the lightning bug because He was thinking, “The kids are gonna love this.”

We know that God loves us enough to create all the things we need to survive, but does God love us so much He created some things just to make us smile?  Did He ponder what would add joy to our lives?  It’s easy to go about each day too busy to look at a tree or listen to a bird, but sometimes at night, out of sheer need to feel the expanse of the universe, you step outside for a bit of fresh air and you see these bleeps of light in the darkness.

You’ve got to remember them from your youth and retrace your path in life and maybe ponder whether or not it’s going the way you planned it to go.

Just seeing lightning bugs takes me back to those warm summer nights of my youth.   I would run around outside with my jar and lid full of holes that my Daddy put in so the bugs wouldn’t die while I enjoyed them.  I would race towards the flashing lights excitedly counting them as I added to my jar.

I can still feel the joy and hear the laughter echoing through my memories.   Lightning bugs were as much a part of my Pennsylvania summers as cold watermelon from a street corner vendor to Fourth of July fireworks.

God created so much diversity in this world of natural beauty. He made all of this for us, and He wants us to enjoy it.  We can get so busy surrounding ourselves with man-made goods that we don’t take time to notice the living tapestry God has painted all around us.

I guess lightning bugs do have a purpose after all. They are a reminder of a creative God who loves us so very much that He’d even paint the rear end of a bug … just to see us smile.

Take delight in His love and remember every time you see a lightning bug to slow down and check to see if your life is going the way you wanted it to go.  It’s never too late to change direction.  Life is too short to live it without all the joy that God provides for you in doing what He made you to do.

You will find your purpose in life if you just ask others what they think you do well.  It’s okay to make life easier by doing what comes naturally.  You will find that you will not only bring joy into your own life, but you will add it to the lives of those around you also.

If you love nature, visit our other website, “The Nature In Us.” Let’s enjoy the wonder of nature together.