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Have you ever had one of those days…the whole day just seems to get away from you. I think they happen after a super busy weekend. Yesterday, all day, I kept thinking it was Thursday. And then at 9:30 pm I realized, it was in fact Monday, and here, the whole day had passed and I never put out a “Moment for your Monday” post…YIKES! So, for this week, it is a Moment for your Monday…on Tuesday 
Its about that time. The time of year when the Kiefer Family goes to the plant nursery to get some Milk Weed (priced around $5 a plant) then pray for a butterfly to arrive and lay eggs, that then hatch and grow into lovely caterpillars, spin a cocoon and meta-morph into phenomenal butterfly’s! Sounds like a dream right? Well, I am not kidding…this is the easiest project you will ever do (did you plant your seeds from the project HERE? There is still plenty of time to do that too!). Basically, you “just add water” and God does the rest. You DO need to choose a plant that looks half-way decent to attract the butterfly’s into it. We went to Kirby’s nursery on Parsons, but really, any local nursery will do (Lowe’s did not have milk weed yet, but I was anxious to start this project, so they may have them in by now).
We bought the plants (four in total), and some extra dirt, and even some Ladybugs. Did you know you can buy live Ladybugs? Call your local nursery and see if they carry them! Ladybugs are natural pest control!
The first plant we bought had a couple caterpillars on it already, those hatched, grew and we never saw the cocoon or Butterfly hatch. But a Butterfly comes to visit our milk weed plants every afternoon and we have watched her lay eggs! We now have 6 caterpillars who we check on every day to see how the growing is going (and to water things). But that’s not what this encouraging story is about! Our plants somehow acquired a covering of Aphids. These little yellow bugs that we are afraid will eat or chase away our caterpillars. In come the Ladybugs {hear a loud booming…dum, da, da, dummmm}!
Each and every night, for the past 14 days, we have had a “Ladybug Release”. We go out just after dinner, when it is dark outside. First, water the plant, then pick out around 10 or so Ladybugs and release them on the plant (strategically placing them on an Aphid infested area/leaf). The Ladybugs LOVE it!! One moment they are crawling all over your hand, the next, they have planted themselves right on top of the Aphid and you can tell they are enjoying a little snack. I’m pretty sure this exactly is how I would feel if I went into Willy Wonka’s Edible Garden!
So today, I would like to encourage you in 3 ways. 1. We ALL do too much and lose track of our days…I lost Monday, don’t lose your Tuesday! Make a list of your priorities today and chip away at them one task at a time. 2. If you have children, add this to your list of priorities (on item #1), sit down for 10 mins and read with your little ones. Perhaps a book about Butterfly’s or Ladybugs? 3. Every time I work on this Butterfly project with my children, I remind them of the saying “What the Caterpillar thinks is the end of the world. The master calls a Butterfly.” Isn’t that exactly what we do? We think the end of the world is here…OH MY GOODNESS…How will I ever go on, we don’t have this or that, or we are struggling with one thing or the other (our dryer stopped working yesterday…that was exactly what I was feeling! No!) But we are only looking into our little cocoon. We don’t realize that God is about to give us WINGS that will allow us to soar. (Turns out, the dryer was overheating, after unclogging the vent it is now working again. And all the laundry is *almost* caught up.)
Helen Keller said, “One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Isaiah 40:29
~My prayer for you today, is that you feel God’s impulse, and Soar!
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