Julie Lavender

CONSIDER THE FIREFLY
by Julie Lavender

A sure sign of a summer evening is the dazzling display of flashing lights at the edge of the woods or in the grassy back yard. The seemingly-synchronous twinkling dots that I see on my after-dark walk with God are throngs of fireflies out on a warm night in search of a mate.

A lighted backside!

Lighting bugs, as they are often called, are fascinating insects. Interestingly, these six-legged critters are not bugs nor flies – these luminous creatures are actually beetles that just happen to have the ability to light up their rear ends!

It’s quite a complicated process that only God could design, called bioluminescence. This phenomenon occurs when luciferin and luciferase, compounds found in the firefly’s body, react with one another when exposed to oxygen.

Fireflies, like other insects, have spiracles: openings in the exoskeleton, and the firefly regulates the oxygen coming in through the spiracles that causes the chemical reaction to occur.  

God's brilliant design

God designed the firefly in this manner to attract a particular mate, because there are over two thousand different species of firefly, and they occur on every continent except Antarctica.  

Flirting fireflies

Female fireflies wait in shrubs or grass and watch for a specific pattern of blinking light. The flashing sequence is unique to each species. Once a particular flashing is spotted, the female flashes back, and the courtship begins.

Watching my own personal firefly fireworks show on my walk this week, just after the Independence Day holiday where thousands of colored lights lit up the dark night sky, I was reminded of a couple of things.

 

Dazzling displays of creativity

Particularly, God’s brilliance! What a fascinating and intriguing, yet diminutive creature is the firefly!

But secondly, I couldn’t help but think about the specificity of a firefly’s light – meant for one particular species only. 

God’s Light, Jesus, shines bright for all.

Just as the fireworks display overhead on July 4^th illuminated the dark sky for all to see, Jesus illuminates the darkness for those that will look up and seek Him.

Fireflies, or lightning bugs, are a joy to discover on a summer night. But I’m glad they can remind me that Jesus lights the way for every species of human being.

Thank you, God, for your Son – my Light.

What about you? Have you chased fireflies this summer?