If God really gave us dominion over the earth, why am I losing?
My neighbors may have heard me squealing recently while I ran away from a garden bed. Yellow jackets chased me onto the deck, my arms wildly waving.
I was stung three times!
While weeding, I’d disturbed their home.
In MY yard, though. Does that make them squatters?
…the earth is full of your creatures. (Psalm 104:24, ESV)
Apparently not. They have permission to hang out anywhere. ?
The night before, a stunning pale green moth stuck itself to my glass storm door. Now I call it stunning, but that was not my first reaction. I’d never seen anything like it, so fear tainted my initial reaction. I was intrigued, so I researched and learned he is a Luna Moth. (I took the above photo.) His lifespan will be brief — poor thing.
Luna moths are not rare, but are rarely seen due to their very brief (7–10 day) adult lives and nocturnal flying time. As with all giant silk moths, the adults only have vestigial mouthparts and no digestive system and therefore do not eat in their adult form, instead relying on energy they stored up as caterpillars.
~Wikipedia
It will not bite or sting. It’s virtually harmless to humans. To some, this fascinating moth is symbolic.
Breaking ties with the past, new beginnings, hope.
Given what’s happened in my life over the past few years, I could read something into its surprising appearance. But I won’t.
Overnight, the moth got on the inside of my storm door. I no longer feel the same affection for this four-inch creature. I wish it would fly away. My latest fear is that it may fly inside when I open the door.
Considering the moth’s beautiful intrusiveness and the yellow jackets’ stings, what’s a human to do?
The Bible has something to say… of course.
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion … over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
(Genesis 1:26, ESV)
Another symbolic meaning of the Luna Moth is transience. Nothing lasts forever, don’t ya know? Indeed, this special moth has little time or motive to do any harm, unlike the yellow jacket.
Thankfully, yellow jackets live only a few weeks. So little time… to aggressively defend their sad little hole in the dirt!
Dealing with the bugs — fair or unfair?
On another more positive (for the bugs) note — in the past year, I’ve been planting a pollinators garden. It seemed easy to start at first, but other insects are eating holes into the leaves of the bee balm, and the lavender’s been fully stripped down to its skinny stalks. Pesticides, obviously, are forbidden. It’s a loser’s game, I think.
But my reactions are not consistent, are they? I’m inviting some insects to a beautiful buffet. Others I call squatters and I wish to spray them with bug poison.
How do you manage your life around these God-created pests? Do we owe any special duty? I’d really love to know.