Sitting in my friend’s garden is like planting yourself down in the middle of a flower patch: vibrant green ornamental grass sprouting out of the ground every which way looking like sharp spikes; pink and yellow cone daisies growing in competition to see who can carve out the biggest bit of ground; passionately-purple mini pansies fighting mightily to keep their faces up in the 90 degree heat of July; and green, pink, yellow, purple, blue, fuchsia -you name it, it’s there.  And, into this color poppin’ place comes a simple brown dragonfly.

 I think for quite awhile, watching this dragonfly sit on a warm piece of brick, that he is injured. All I can see of his wings is a small smudge on each side.   It looks almost as if he had been stuck on an electricity line, burning off a section of wing on his right and left.  We debate whether we could help if he was hurt.  We talk of getting him water.  We try to get close enough to move him.  Every time we try to solve his needs, he flies up, away, and then, after about a minute, re-lands on his spot.  We finally decide he doesn’t need our help.

 Watching this plain brown dragonfly in amongst the rainbow of flowers give me pause.  The flowers are so much more “rich” to gaze at, but the dragonfly intrigues me.  I couldn’t remember a time when I had even thought about a dragonfly. Did you know that dragonflies eat mosquitoes?  They can eat up to a couple hundred of them in a day.  They also have serrated teeth, come in over 5000 varieties, and, can remain in the larvae stage for up to 2 years! They have been around for over 3 million years, and at one time, had wingspans of up to two feet.  Dragonflies, unbeknownst to me, help keep me itch free!

 A simple, plain, brown dragonfly in a multi-hued, sparkling flower garden…how can one choose which reflects God love for his people more?  One one hand, He feeds the eye with beauty, while on the other, he protects our very blood and skin from irritation. What more proof do we need of God’s love for us than a dragonfly on guard in a flower garden?

This post is taken from the booklet Living in Wonder – 2013, written by members of Christ Memorial Church , edited by Karen Bables, designed by Lori Baker.