We were out on our new land this afternoon, when I found what looked to be a harmless caterpillar crawling on one of the buildings. He looked so beautiful that I wanted to get closer and enjoy him.
So, I extended my hand to him, and he crawled on. He was a beautiful burnt orange color, almost iridescent, with a furry body and some long white hairs. As he crawled across my hands, I was mesmerized by the little pads on the tips of his feet. He had lots of feet, all moving in unison. He had about 4 pairs of fore feet that had small pads. His six to eight pairs of hind feet had double pads. He even had false eyes on the front of his head- bright red false eyes with yellow streaks in the middle.
So, I sat there admiring my new friend for about five minutes while waiting for the visiting team to take photos of the land. The caterpillar and I were truly bonding, when Tito, one of the Sudanese staff, came over quickly, ticking his tongue and calling hurriedly, “No, no, Jennie!”
He took a piece of long thick grass and knocked my little friend off of my arm, still tisking loudly. “Ah, Jennie! This is poison! This is danger!”
The other Sudanese staff gathered around, also clicking their tongues, as Tito killed my friend.
After vanquishing the “foe,” Tito turned to me, and with a sigh of obvious relief, he said to me, “God helped you!”
I am still sad that my friend is dead, and not quite convinced that he was as dangerous as everyone seemed to think. But, if he was, thanks, God, for watching my back… and please give my friend a nice tree to crawl on in heaven.
hmmm
Glad you’re still with us 🙂
It’s hard to imagine something that beautiful and serine can be so dangerous to this earthly shell. Without the knowledge of this kind of danger leads to unwarranted suffering…without the increase of knowledge and wisdom of God, we could also suffer much. May He increase our knowledge of Him as we go through this life.