Kim Eckenroth, MS, APRN, FNP-C, our co-founder and vice president overseeing patient care, often writes devotionals for our staff. We thought you might also appreciate them, so we created a special section on our blog to share them with you. We hope they touch your heart too.
Psalms 145:9 “The LORD is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.”
Night before last, slightly past sunset, Don and I took some chairs out to the farm. We rode way up into one of the large fields so we could catch a glimpse of the sky as the last reflections of sunset lingered over the tall mountains bordering West Virginia.
This particular field is full of maturing hay. As we drove across the field, I mentioned to Don that it was almost time for the fawns to arrive (usually the first week of June). The hay would provide a safe ground cover for the new babies and the field would provide good nutrition for the mama deer too.
If you look at the picture below, you will notice the field was beginning to come alive with another type of life. It was a haven for insects, especially lightening bugs. There were millions of glistening lightening bugs, covering the tops of the hay and the trees bordering the field. It looked as if we had thrown a special iridescent glitter onto the field and into the sky that looked like tiny night lights. The bugs were obviously glowing, looking for mates and wasting not a moment of their very short life.
As we sat and watched the field come to life, we talked about the wonders of God’s creation and the beauty He has placed around us. We had never in all our lives seen so many lightening bugs in one place! It was great fun as we witnessed God’s handiwork on display for nearly an hour.
We both talked about catching lightening bugs when we were kids. Don would let his go immediately. We, on the other hand, put ours in jars lined with grass, making them a house for the night. We punched holes in the metal jar lids so they would get enough oxygen. We set the jar on our nightstands by our beds and lay there on our pillows watching the lightening bugs light up our rooms. We stared at the jars for as long as we could until our eyelids grew heavy and we drifted off to sleep. Once morning came, we would take the jars to the porch and let all the lightening bugs go. Those were our childhood days growing up on the farm. It really didn’t take much to entertain a country kid in those days!
If you have a minute, watch the brief video taken in Tennessee which is included in the link below. It has better images than I could capture with the camera phone.
When God created the earth, He must have had a great time designing life! How He ever came up with a bug whose tail would light up at night in order to find its mate is still a mystery to me.
You know, today as you go about your day I invite you to think about this thought… if God took such interest in a little bug, how much more love and concern does He have for you? No detail of our lives is too small or unimportant for His attention. If He cares and feeds bugs and has mercies for them as recorded in Psalms, how much more does He care for us — especially when He created us in His image?
Blessings over you and your family today as you head off to work. Take a few minutes this week to head out into your yard after dark. Let me know if you catch some lightening bugs!
Kim