Spiritual Lessons from Biology

My Christmas Cactus was a bit of a let down this year.  Winter finds this plant covered in bright scarlet flowers, but this year it sprouted only a few buds, and they were duds.  Yet now in the late spring, when all the other flowers are blooming, it has finally burst into bloom!  Seeing this one precious cactus flower made my heart thrill more than all the flowers outside.  Even though it was late, it was worth waiting for.  This flower was by far the most beautiful of any it has bore before. I am a bit like this cactus plant.   I look out my window at passers-by and wonder “Am I good enough?   I don’t have so much money as her, or prestige as him, or intelligence as them…”   It is encouraging to remember where I am planted; because where you are planted makes all the difference.  The poet David wrote:  “ I am like a green olive tree flourishing in the house of God.” [1] Jeremiah said: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LO...

Only the mist is moving over the waters in the early morning hours.  Far away, bugs hum lazily.  The sun is melting away the evening chill.  Shards of silver play along the water surface, the dim sunlight glinting off their scales.  The school of fish moves slowly, deliberately, but twitchingly.  They are a pause-and-play video, ever watching.  Suddenly a flurry of feathers cut through the water.  The fish scatter, all but one, twitching in the beak of the gently bobbing bird. Among all the hunting techniques observed in avians, surely the Green Heron ranks as one of the most fascinating.   These herons are the smallest of their family.  Yet what they lack in size they make up for in intelligence.   The Green Heron is a master fisherman.  He scours the landscape for a delicious morsel, a bit of bread or a seed pod, and carries it to the nearest lake.   There the heron stands upon a rock.  He tip-toes down to t...

This morning i went on a run.   The trail i take leads through a Prairie Dog village, and as i pass through they normally keep a wary eye on me but go about their usual business.   Today, however, the whole village went into an uproar at my approach!   Males sat atop their hills, thrusting their noses into the air and chirping wildly.   Females dashed to their holes, shaking their little black tails angrily.   All at once i saw what all the fuss was about.   The pale doll faces of prairie dog puppies peered out from their burrows.   The baby prairie dogs have arrived!   When I saw their tiny faces i could not help but laugh.   i  must have looked like an idiot, running along the trail and laughing to myself.   i  couldn’t stop!   Every time i saw a baby prairie dog I burst out laughing again!   i  must have got a double workout with all the cardio from guffawing while on the jog. i had a similar experience w...

  In the months leading up to my move to New Zealand, i spent hours poring over information about  local flora and fauna.   In fact, i successfully memorized every bird species by latin, english, and Maori name!  (Don't ask me to do this now because it's been too long!)   One class of creatures particularly enchanted me: the cetaceans. Cetaceans are a boisterous and intelligent class of sea mammal.   In layman’s terms we call them ‘dolphins’.   Orcas and pilot whales are also dolphins, but are rarely recognized as such because of their large size.   While the morphology of these creatures is fascinating enough, even more intriguing is their linguistic skills. Pods (dolphin family groups) are usually formed for life and can result in the development of unique dialects. [1]   These are the only creatures know to have individual names aside from humans.   A mother names her calf, and the rest of the pod addresses the kiddo with that na...