Thursday, May 19, 2011

Most Amazing Thing I've Ever Seen...

So, in the midst of the storms of my life, God never ceases to amaze me...

However this time, He laid it all out. I mean, I feel Him talking to me quite often, however this time He needed to show me just how Awesome and Miraculous He truly is...


On Wednesday May 11th, we had had a very emotional night at church. A lot of us joined together to celebrate the life of a teen, from our youth group, who lived fully for Christ, and died, in our human eye, way too young. Her life lived, and life lost has brought many people to Christ. It had been an emotional week since finding out that she died a week before. And it was easy to ask why, and hurt, and be swallowed by grief. However, after the night of celebrating her life and God telling me over and over, that He has a plan. He is in charge. He loves us and won't let us do any of this stuff on our own... Apparently I wasn't listening enough.


Now, what I am going to share with you is something that happens countless times each spring, but even growing up in the country (kinda) I had never seen it. And this time, well, He made sure I did, and I believe that is because I needed to see His awesome power and be reminded of His Amazing Grace!


So, the kids and I drive home from church on the 11th, and we went in the house to get them ready for bed. It was later than a usual Wednesday night, so they were going to brush their teeth and go straight to bed, however Mimi asked them to join her at the table for just a moment. She had a little peanut butter jar that Auri uses as a bug catcher.... About three weeks earlier she had put a cocoon in it and it's been sitting in the kitchen. I at one point asked her what it was and she told me it was a praying mantas cocoon. I was like, "yeah right, how does she know that". I mean really, don't they just appear on the sides of buildings and on my arms and wherever they want? Do they really come from a cocoon? Well, yes, they do... and my amazing mother with all her knowledge knew that this was a praying mantas cocoon... So it has sat in the kitchen, fallen off the counter and been played with by kittens all while living inside this jar. Well... let's just say, it hatched... And what I was expecting was a half size praying mantas, just kinda sitting there, but when I joined her and the kids at the table, I was surprised... very surprised...

You see, there was not just one itsy bitsy teeny weeny little praying mantas, like this one...












And there were not just two itsy bitsy teeny weeny praying manatees like these ones....














Nor were there even just a few like these ones....












But rather there was a flash mob of itsy bitsy teeny weeny little tiny adorable and creepy creatures.... at a glance, they looked like spiders... EUWW!!! And they just kept coming out of the chrysalis by the hundreds... It was incredible!!!



I mean, seriously.... WOOOOWWWWW!!!!!


They were tiny, they were everywhere. Like literally the size around of about a sewing pin and the length of less than a centimeter. It was so cool... I felt like a child at Christmas! And every time I talk about it, I feel like a child at Christmas again because it excites me so.


So really, God made each of those hundreds of tiny little critters. He formed their legs, he knew how long they needed to be in the cocoon. He gave them eyes, and feelers and whatever else there is that they have. And He taught them how to Pray!!! Just like He is teaching me that I may have the free will to make whatever choices I want... but ultimately, He is in control, so I might as well stop asking why, and start asking what. Not why does this or that happen? Why whatever... But What!!?? What is He trying to tell me? What is He wanting me to learn from this situation? What does He want me to do...? What!!! Sometimes I wanna just tell myself, to slow down and shut up, it's not about me, it's about Him!!! Every day... Every moment!!!





Okay, so on with the story... Thursday morning after the miraculous (in my eyes) hatching... Jackson went to check on the babies before school since we had put them on the lilac bush the night before, from the jar, so they could be free and not crush each other, and he needed to get the lid from the top of the jar because Mimi had found another cocoon and put it in another jar, and we were gonna have more babies... YAY!!! So he goes out there, and about five to ten minutes later, mom looks at me and says, "what is taking him so long?" I didn't know, so she opened the door to go check on him, and this is what we found, just outside the door, on the ramp...



That's right, this little guy had decided that he wanted to make friends with Jackson. He had almost doubled in size from the night before, and he was so cute. Auri wouldn't touch him, but wow is he fascinating...



This is my favorite picture of all... If you look closely, you can see that the little guy, stopped and looked at Jackson. We had been talking and I was clearly taking pictures. I even held the little thing for a little bit. But Jackson had said something, and as you can see, this itsy bitsy teeny weeny tiny little critter, stopped and looked straight at Jackson. If it was possible to keep one as a pet, we would have. It was one of the coolest things EVER!!!

So, in saying all of this, I want to encourage you to stop, and listen. God is trying to show you something, or tell you something, or teach you something. HE has a plan, and He is in control! Let Him teach you, let Him move you, let Him love you, just like He loves each and every one of these little guys!


Have and amazingly blessed day!!!

-Kristen

2 comments:

Sam said...

Great pics, Kris. Thanks for sharing them. Mom told me about it but seeing it is something completely different.

Unknown said...

how amazing!! not many people can say they've seen that. awesome :)