Eastern Tiger Swallow Tail

Psalm 5:3 "In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch."

The bee and the butterfly were busy collecting nectar. And David in the above Psalm is eagerly seeking the Lord. We need to be about the work of the Lord for when we seek Him we will find Him  when we search with diligence.

Monarch Butterfly on Calico Aster

Psalm 121

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;

From where shall my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to slip;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun will not smite you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will protect you from all evil;

He will keep your soul.

8 The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in

From this time forth and forever.

God has given us His promises to rely on in life. There are many things that come our way but as we rely on God, He brings us through it all.

God is not asleep. He is with us through thick and thin. The problems in the day will not overwhelm you. And the problems at night will not destroy you. We can trust in God and rely on Him in all we face in life.

Can we believe God's promises? Yes we can believe Him. Reject the doubt that naturally comes with trials and instead trust what God says. Jesus is our savior, friend, helper and He is right now in heaven praying for us as we believe what He has promised us.

Father I look to you to help me through all the problems that come my way.

Clouded Sulphur Butterfly

A nice shot of this butterfly on white flowers. Butterflies are attracted to flowers to get the nectar.

1 John 2:15-17
"Do not love the world nor the things in the world.
 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life,
is not from the Father, but is from the world.
17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts;
but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

Watch what you respond to so that your life will be a blessing to others.

Red-Spotted Purple Butterfly

Found this Red-Spotted Purple butterfly on the trail the other day. It's always a surprise when I see the colorful butterflies on the trail. As I hake I get used to the common sites I see. But I'm always looking for something unusual.

The adult butterflies fly from may to October. The caterpillars lower their water content from around 80% to 50% to keep from freezing in the winter.

Never give up looking for God to do things in your life. Though life might look like winter and becomes hard, God wants to bring you into His will to ministry as He has made you.

Ephesians 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

Father let me see and understand the instrument you have made me to be for Your Kingdom.

Monarch Butterfly

During the fall migration the Monarch butterfly covers 1000's of miles and it takes more than one generation to return. So the pattern of of migration is not learned.

Our life has many twists and turns. We can't always learn before hand what to do. God will lead us as we rely and look to Him for answers.

Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight."

Clouded Sulphur Butterfly

Caught a photo of this butterfly while hiking at Cooly Lake Wildlife Area the other day. Sometimes the wildlife I find is really small.

God is like that. We are looking for the spectacular and God shows us something that seems insignificant. But with Him nothing is insignificant. Small things in His kingdom can make a big difference. We can trust Him with our life.

Psalm 121:8 "The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in. From this time forth and forever."

So be it, in Jesus name.

Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly

Psalm 104:24,25 "O Lord, how many are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your possessions.
25 There is the sea, great and broad,
In which are swarms without number,
Animals both small and great."

Silvery Checkerspot Butterfly

2 Corinthians 5:17 " Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

Painted Ladies

Painted Ladies butterfly. This butterfly flew by for our viewing.

Butterfly and Flower

Looks like another Clouded Sulphur butterfly hovering above these flowers. The color is a little lighter

Clouded Sulphur Butterfly

Walking through a natural  field I noticed this butterfly. These butterflies are common.

Clouded Sulphur butterfly on thistle flower.

Great Spangled Fritillary

Link for info on the Great Spangled Fritillary

Spicebush Swollow Tail Butterfly

I saw this Spicebush Swollowtail butterfly as I was leaving my lunch hike. Last Monday. At first I just noticed the thistle but as I got closer I realized there was a butterfly on the thistle. I grabbed my camera and got this photo. I was able to ID this butterfly with this google link to Missouri butterflies.