Lessons from the Monarch Butterfly

Today at Science Monday at Veritas Academy of Tucson, I will be teaching about the monarch butterfly.  All butterflies are remarkable because of their complete metamorphosis.  In addition, the monrch is exceptional because it migrates up to 2,500 miles per year to the same spot in Mexico that its ancestors have gone to since time immemorial, can fly as fast as a racehorse (25-30 mph), and can cross the entire Caribbean Sea without a rest stop.

One of the many lessons the monarch can illustrate is the way it protects itself.  Because it ingests large quantities of milkweed in its larval stage, the monarch retains the toxin of the milkweed the rest of its life.  This makes it poisonous to most birds, allowing the monarch to escape many predators.  The viceroy butterfly, which looks a lot like the monarch, does not ingest milkweed, is not noxious, and yet benefits from the same protection!  

This reminds us that bitter experiences can be used by the Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of Christ. 

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..."  Romans 8:28-29.