The Privileged Life: Fireflies
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
Who doesn’t love to watch fireflies? There’s something magical in how they sparkle across a darkened field with their brief sweeps of light—calling out to each other silent antiphonal harmony. The little critter in the photo above is one of the few left now in our backyard at the end of this summer season, still glowing its fleeting love song (and yes, I did release it after its photo modeling session in my jar).
Fireflies, or “lightning bugs” as we call them here in the South, are marvels of God’s handiwork. Their mysterious pulses of light are rare among His creatures, making them a constant subject of entomological research. Did you know that there are only a few places in the world where a singular variety is “synchronous”? The fireflies all light up together at the same time, flashing on and off together like Christmas tree lights.
One such colony exists in the Great Smoky Mountains near Elkmont campground, and the park service allows a limited number of guests (by lottery system) to view them each June…it’s on my bucket list to see. But I could have sworn, when out catching one little fellow this weekend, that the fireflies in our backyard were doing the same synchronous dance! Maybe God was giving me a little glimpse of His baton in action, directing His symphony of creation.
If you’re blessed to see a firefly this week, praise God for His amazing, unfathomable purposes in nature. And let these tiny ambassadors remind us to shine our own lights together to brighten a darkened world.
Great and imaginative God, what a privilege to see Your hand at work in our world through tiny little bugs that light up! Let them so capture our own imagination that we remember to be Your beacons of light, drawing our own glow from Your great love and power. In the name of Jesus, the Light of the World, Amen.
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