Bugs 2

I'm not on a bug kick. This is just odd timing.

My son Wyatt and I were hanging in the backyard last night when he discovered a really freaky looking bug with a huge appendage with a nasty looking stinger. He called me over. Purple wings, lots of legs, that wicked stinger....it was pretty menacing. I've seen a lot of bugs, this wasn't anything I recognized.

It somehow was trapped in a cup. It didn't fly away when I carried it out farther into the yard. I set it in the grass where it flopped around. It wasn't a termite (great), it wasn't an emerald ash borer (cause it wasn't green)---Wyatt, being 15, offered the opinion that it was some sort of crossbred wasp.

"Should I step on it?" I asked Wyatt. I figured doing that would eliminate the threat of it becoming enraged and seeking us out with that stinger--invading our house, terrorizing the neighbors, wreaking havoc on our fair city......y'know---those things you think of when you see scary bugs.

"Nah."

Good idea. There was no reason to kill it just because it looked scary. If it was a Monarch butterfly our initial reaction wouldn't have been to step on it like this purple winged whatever. I got it back into the cup and waved it in the air whereupon it buzzed off into the night. I couldn't help but wonder if that was a little lesson for me---especially in light of yesterday's blog about God's purpose wrapped in a healthy dose of mystery.

Ever hear the story about the little girl who picked a handful of dandelions for her mother? She presented them proudly whereupon her mother informed her they were weeds. The little girl burst into tears. To her, they were beautiful flowers presented with love.

The purple-winged big-butted hybrid-wasp-creature flew off into the night---it's very likely that some bird will enjoy it today as a tasty snack. At least it went that way, rather than at the bottom of my sandal.