Learning From The Monarch

All of creation provides fantastic learning opportunities for mankind.

I think creation's vital lessons are precisely purposed, revealing more from just their mere existence.

Man is to properly manage nature, not mistreat it... since he derives his livelihood and physical health from it.

Nothing in all creation is useless or without purpose.

Even the flea or mosquito (although we may not like these particular creatures) have their role to play (besides annoying us).

I was watching an animal documentary last night that spent some considerable time talking about the monarch butterfly.

I was quite surprised learning about their lifecycle, where they travel to and from, and how integral they are to man's existence.

Surely every single living organism on earth has its place, its role, its part to play in the greater scheme of things.

That particular butterfly specie, as several other creatures at risk of being troubled by human ignorance, needs to be considered.

The lessons are endless when we deeply consider our role, our position, our responsibility, and what treasures we already have throughout all creation.

An example of failing to recognize the bigger, for example, is how man's ambition causes him to be nearsighted.

An ambition to increase return for an agribusiness may include removing milkweed.

Yet by removing milkweed, the butterfly's work would also be removed.

These particular butterflies fertilize other flowering plants.

This is one reason why although need or want may motivate certain human actions, some of those actions may backfire and disrupt what is already perfectly ordered and set in motion for us.

A man may have many plans, but often times such plans seem to be ignorant of what God has already established on our behalf.

Man's ambition may cause him to suspect he knows a better way, or how to better capitalize on the already existing fortunes God has created for him.

Consider if mankind was to treat the monarch butterfly as he does certain human beings from certain parts of the earth.

Out of ignorance, or fear, or other human frailties, a man is apt to disrupt yet another natural order found on earth: the fact that people move from place to place for a variety of reasons.

Restricting movement, or frustrating it to the point that tyrannical regimes arise, is a lesson yet to be learned by mankind.

Although some peoples have formulated laws to prevent such limitations on movement and migration, men seem consumed by themselves and things rather than learning from creation and its Creator.

The variables are too many to list, and the unlearned lessons too vast to numerate, but they are to be learned by the individual and, perhaps, manifested on earth through the vocations of certain people.

This is what an actual 'leader' is called or expected to do: bring forth from the storehouse of wisdom the good they have learned... and implement it.

Consider how these butterflies, in some fantastic way, find their way back to where they were the previous year.

However, the butterflies that return are the offspring!

The butterfly that is born in one of the states in America is not the same butterfly that winters in Mexico.

Amazingly, the community of butterflies returns to where previous generations travelled.

Read here for the specific and amazing details.

Similarly, there are some people who winter in more comfortable places on earth and then spend spring and summer elsewhere.

Although people who do this today are typically quite wealthy (while some are perhaps smart enough to find out how to do so without added expense), this was a natural pattern for some parts of mankind's extended family until very recently.

The natives (or earliest recorded peoples) in what is currently called 'New England' (northeastern United States) would reside in different locations throughout the year.

Their location choices depended on seasonal abundance.

Their impact on the land wast typically minimal due to their moving along after natural abundance.

For example, when fish were abundant in a particular river they would arrive (remembering from their ancestors or last year's customs) and enjoy easy pickings from that river.

When that food supply lessened, they moved on to where bounty was plentiful or easily attained.

Their diets would change along with the seasons, as is the case with all of creation.

During the winter months, they wouldn't so much 'store provisions', but fast and consume little, and conserve energy (similar to the monarch butterfly).

Consider how these human manners reflect the rhythms of nature.

There seemed to be a particular respect for the realities in creation and mankind's relation to creation.

Consider how, with the help of technology and lessons from history, man is today able to leave a lighter mark on creation while still enjoying the bounty God has provided in creation.

If only man is able to restrain his ambitions and consider whether a desire is a need or a want.

In Part 2, we will explore how we are all called to be monarchs.