By Katie Murray
My younger son’s pre-K class has been focusing on the Animal Kingdom the last several weeks of school, which means the Murray household has been inundated with conversations around all of life’s peculiar creatures. From giant squids to giraffes, bears to butterflies, tadpoles to turtles.
As a result of the conversations James is bringing home from school, we have all become more aware of the creatures around our house. We are attuned to the hoot of the barred owl and the loud croak of the toads in the creek. We laugh as our two standard poodles chase the squirrels, doves and robins in our backyard. We see that same lizard on the fence every day as we eat our snacks after school. Even the more annoying pests are catching our attention, from the housefly that sneaks in anytime we leave the door open too long to the early mosquito sightings and their accompanying bites letting us know summer is almost here.
By complete coincidence we also happened to get some caterpillars last month to raise into butterflies. We released them this week, and my newly minted animal-expert son teared up as the fifth and final butterfly flew away from the cage where we had watched them grow from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. “Why can’t they stay in their cage with us forever?” What followed was a conversation about God’s design and purpose for butterflies in creation, laying groundwork for future conversations as he learns to discern God’s call in his own life.
This morning Wilshire Winds will open our worship with the Doxology. I grew up in a church that sang this song every Sunday, and the words are deeply ingrained in me as a result.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen
I love the imagery of all creation praising God and wonder what we can learn from our fellow creatures this morning. What might the butterfly teach us about praising God? May our collective worship help us all to become more attuned to how we can live our lives outside these walls in praise to God.