Red-Spotted Purple Butterfly (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) ~ Caring for those who cannot care back

 

    I was returning home after a long walk.  The river smelled fresh because of the rain, and a pungent sweet aroma of autumn wafted down from the forest canopy.  As I turned a corner, the path led me back to the roadside.  The gentle sounds of the river fell away, overcome by the swoosh swoosh of traffic.  A chill descended through the ether as the sun sank low upon the horizon.  I crested a hill.  Something colorful on the sidewalk caught my eye.  A beautiful butterfly!  It was a female Red-spotted Purple.  I picked it up.  She fluttered her wings a bit.  She was very weak, barely moving, and one of her wings was torn.  She’d clearly been trampled.  I carried her home, in the palm of my hand.  When I arrived back, I mixed up some sugar water and filled a cotton ball with it.  I set the butterfly’s feet on the ball so she could taste the sugar.  She moved her head a bit, but she was too weak to extend her proboscis to drink.  I fetched a toothpick and gingerly unfurled her tongue.  She drank and drank for a long time.  After her meal she moved her antennae a bit more, and even tried to flap her wings.  I put her on my shirt so she could warm up.  She stayed there all evening, through dinner, but still wasn’t moving much.  I let her sit on the back of my hand and placed some droplets of the nectar there.  It was a bit easier for her to drink that way, but she was still very weak. I put her in a jar with some flower trimmings and a nectar ball.  In the morning she was lifeless.

Strangely, all through the short ordeal, I felt nurtured.  This has been a challenging season for me, yet, in a paradoxical way, as I cared for this creature, I felt cared for.  As I comforted her, I felt comforted.  I was reminded of Jesus’ instruction to care for those who can do nothing in return.  It is a mystical blessing in which everybody wins.  Luke 14v14 says, “When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.”  Similarly, Isaiah 58v10 reads, “If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.”

It was just a little butterfly, but it was a reminder of what Christ has called me to do.  I hope I can go through life caring for precious souls who cannot repay me.  After all, that is what Christ did for me.








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