Lesson from Dragonflies

Friends.

I enjoy sitting on my patio in the evenings, relaxing, watching the birds.  There is a peace there that I find.  For the past few nights as I have sat on the patio I have been joined by others.  It happens each year around this time.  The others I speak of are Dragonflies.  Each year Goose and I would enjoy that time together.  He didn’t even mind when they would land on him.  Each year as I watch these Dragonflies, and whenever we would see them around a pond on hikes and such, I am reminded of a story my Grannymom told me.

My Grannymom was in the last moments of her life as Cancer had taken an awful toll on her.  I had watched this woman, (who had been the most influential person in my life, and in many ways still is), this woman who was so full of life, love, energy, whimsy, just a tiny ball (she was only 5 foot) of brilliant sunshine that brought warmth, smiles and beauty to anyone she met, go from all that to a woman who was too weak to get out of bed as she withered away.

Even in her weak and withered state she could tell I was bothered by it all and was having a hard time watching her as the ugliness of Cancer showed no mercy.  As I sat next to her on her bed she took a deep breath had me lean in closer to her so I could hear the words she spoke.

“Mickey” she said “One afternoon, a woman, lying in a canoe close to the shore, saw many beetle like creatures in the muddy bottom of the lake.  She felt sorry for those lowly creatures, which would never know any other world except gloom and mud and water.”

“Then a big, black beetle came out of the water.  It crawled up on the edge of the canoe and sat there blinking at her.  Under the heat of the sun the beetle died.  Then a strange thing happened.  The beetles black, shriveling  shell cracked down the back.  Out of it came a shapeless mass whose hideousness was transformed into a beautiful, brilliantly colored life.”

“Out of that mass gradually unfolded four shimmering wings from which the sunlight flashed a thousand colors.  The wings spread wide as if to worship the sun.  The woman realized that she had witnessed the transformation of an ugly beetle crawling in the mud to a beautiful dragonfly soaring above the waters.”

“The body that was left behind still clung to the canoe.  While the dragonfly explored the wonders of its wings and its new world, the other beetles were still crawling in the mud.  The woman new that she had seen a miracle of nature.  Out of the mud had come a beautiful new life.  The thought occurred to her, if the Creator worked such wonders with the lowliest of creatures, what must be in store for God’s children created in God’s likeness!”

 

 

What truth!  With that simple and beautiful story my heart was no longer heavy it was light and at peace.  So you see even over 30 years ago when my Grannymom told me that story whenever I see a dragonfly I cannot help but smile and think of my Grannymom and give thanks for all the wonderful ways she guided me.

Blessings,
Michelle (aka- Mickey)