Have you ever watched a pretty little ladybug, with its orange-red body covered with black polka dots, crawl over your finger and said: “Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home; your house is on fire, your children are gone”? We really wouldn’t want her children harmed, because some species of these insects are our friends.
These colorful beetles save plant growers millions of dollars every year. All the tiny insects they eat on citrus trees is one of their greatest benefits. Another is in the control of the Colorado potato beetle, which is a serious pest all over North America. They also eat aphids, as well as other plant-eating insects.
The female lays many eggs at a time, depositing them in cracks of bark or under leaves, usually in areas where aphids live. When the larva hatches, it immediately starts to devour aphids. After a few weeks of eating at a great rate and molting several times, it reaches full size. God-given instinct tells it to attach itself by its tail to the underside of a leaf where it forms a shiny chrysalis. Later it emerges as a fully developed ladybug, able to fly from one place to another, eating harmful insects in great quantities.
Our pretty friend has been given three ways to escape from its enemies. First, its bright colors warn predators that it doesn’t taste good. Next, it can produce a foul-smelling fluid that makes it unattractive to its enemy. Finally, if these fail, it “plays dead,” producing a bad smell at the same time, and the would-be captor will often leave it alone.
In late autumn the ladybugs hibernate, going into buildings or under the bark of dead trees or into other sheltered places. In the western states, millions of them fly long distances to the mountains and hide in the rocks. There, the dormant ladybugs are hunted by collectors and shoveled into sacks to be refrigerated until spring. Then they are sold to orchardists and farmers, who are happy to buy them to place among their trees and plants.
God, who created these helpful little creatures, uses them so wonderfully to help people. Have you ever wondered how you can serve Him? Like the ladybug, if you serve the Lord, you will be a help to people. He tells us to “do good” and to be “rich in good works” (see 1 Timothy 6:1818That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; (1 Timothy 6:18)). That is what He did when He lived on earth, and He said, “If any [one] serve Me, let him follow Me” (John 12:2626If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. (John 12:26)). If you follow Him, you can be sure that He will give you good things to do, and He won’t lead you to do wrong things or to waste your time.
Did You Know?
Ladybugs save plant growers millions of dollars every year.
Messages of God’s Love 12/8//2024