Connections and Interdependency

Lately I have been watching a series of programmes called ‘Secrets of our Living Planet’ where the presenter, Chris Packam shows and explains just how all of creation is linked.  It has been amazing to see how the huge brazil nut tree depends on an orchid growing out of its branches. A particular species of bee lives solely off the orchid while the female of the species seeks out the nectar of the flower of the same brazil nut tree and so pollinates it.  When the fruit is ripe and falls to the ground, a rodent picks it up and carries it about 200 yards away to hide it and return to it later.  Often the hidden nuts are forgotten and so grow into new trees.  In similar vein a gecko needs a giraffe and a leaf cutter ant depends on a wolf.  All of creation is connected and interdependent in chains of action resulting in ecosystems.

It was also brought to our notice how a whole ecosystem can die and disappear because one small insect or tiny creature is wiped out; such is the interdependence between the various species.  I quote the summing up paragraph to one of the programmes:

The complex web of relationships that we’ve seen has evolved over millions of years but I’ve learnt to see the real beauty in nature.  It’s not in the minute detail.  It’s in the bigger picture.  Because this works perfectly, that is beautiful.

God is in the detail and it is all the tiny details and interactions that make up a bigger picture.  So often we get bogged down in our own little world of detail.  Sometimes it is good for us to take a step back and consider just what our particular activity is connected to.  When we ask God to help us see things through His eyes, we are in effect asking to see the bigger picture – beyond our own little space.  We are all connected and interdependent and just how God works all that out – now that’s the beauty of God!

Let the Children ...

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to my nephew's son's 2nd birthday tea.  It was a lovely family get together with lots of nice things to eat.  His 5 year old elder brother had made some cakes especially for the occasion - with white icing and white chocolate buttons on them - mmm, not forgetting the birthday cake in the shape of Mickey.  There were presents to open and enjoy - toys, sweets, t-shirts with pictures of his favourite cartoon characters on them, a touchy feely book and lots more.  But the pièce de resistance was his new tricycle from Mam and Dad.  He just wanted to go outside in the garden and play on his new bike.

Watching the children playing reminded me of something I read earlier in the week. 

Contact with children teaches us sincerity, simplicity, the ability to live in the present hour, the present action.  Children are, in a sense, reborn daily: hence their spontaneity, the lack of complexity in their souls, the simplicity of their judgments and actions.  Moreover their intuitive distinctions between good and evil are direct and straightforward, their souls are free of the bonds of sin, they are not continually judging and analyzing.

As Jesus said – we must become as children.  There’s a lot more to it than first we might think when we hear those words.

Caterpillar or Butterfly?

One of my favourite insects is the butterfly.  I think there is nothing nicer on a sunny day than to see the butterflies flitting from one flower to another, seeking out the nectar and pollinating at the same time. Having lived in hotter climes, I have had the privilege of seeing some beautifully coloured and very large butterflies.  It is amazing to see a whole crowd of them resting and drinking beside a waterfall.  Absolutely stunning.

A group of swallowtails drinking in a pool next to Iguazu waterfalls

On the other hand I really dislike caterpillars and most gardeners try to eliminate them from the plants as they seem to devour just about every green leaf in sight.  Although they can also be of varying colours, some quite stunning to look at, the colours don't seem to attract us in the same way as the butterflies do.  Somehow that wriggly worm-like creature doesn't have the same appeal as the butterfly.

Maybe we see the apparent freedom of the butterfly displaying its beauty and being useful to us as pollinators while the caterpillars just seem to eat everything that we want to grow for our own use and pleasure.  The thing is that you can't have the butterfly without first having the caterpillar and it seems to me that for every caterpillar that we get rid of, that's one less butterfly to enjoy.  Hmm!!  Quite a dilemma!  Is that another of nature's lessons?  Someone once said, 'There's nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.'

As Strong As ... ...

The saying is 'as strong as an ox' which implies that strength is synonymous with size and brute force.  I guess it depends on what you mean by strength.  I think there is a kind of strength that has nothing to do with size or brute force.

A few nights ago we had a terrible storm that blew down part of our fence in the back garden - the gardener is coming next week to repair it.  Last evening I was watching the programme 'Springwatch' and their conversation was about the storm and the consequent floods and its effect on the wildlife.  Every year 'Springwatch' present their programme from a different location and this year it is from Wales.  Over the weekend Wales has suffered terrible storms and floods due to the amount of rain that has fallen and the water pouring down from the mountains and the rivers not being able to contain it.  Sadly there was loss of habitat and wildlife.  But the presenters were (and I was also) amazed at the precarious looking nest of a Goldcrest.

The Goldcrest is the smallest British bird and yet this tiny creature was still sitting on its eggs in the nest keeping them warm and sheltered from the conditions until they would hatch.  Other bigger creatures had perished but this tiny bird that weighs only a few grams showed a tenacity and strength beyond its appearance.  The nest swayed in the branches of the tree but it stayed put.  When at last the rain stopped and the clouds cleared for a short time there was such a cacophony of sound from all the birds, insects and mammals that emerged as though they were singing praises for their deliverance.  What lessons to be learned!  It reminded me of my online friend Joanna in Latvia who has a rather lame chick who apparently has quite a personality and won't give in but keeps trying to keep up with the others. 

Joanna's little lame chick (courtesy of Joanna's blog)



Thinking about that little Goldcrest, I felt quite a wimp when I snuggled up in my comfortable bed with my lovely duvet.  I want to change the saying to 'as strong as a goldcrest'.

Looking Back

When waiting at the bus stop to go into town, it is interesting to listen to the various conversations.  There is one particular elderly gentleman who regularly gets the same bus as me and his conversation is usually on the same topic - modern technology, computers in particular.  He really doesn't have a good word to say about them.  He certainly doesn't want one and couldn't see himself ever owning one.  Then I started wondering what my life would be like without one!  I would have to keep calling in at the bank or Post Office to pay my bills and organise my accounts.  I wouldn't be able to shop online as I do now.  And I wouldn't have a number of new-found friends that I now have through blogs and Facebook.  It would be more expensive and take longer to keep in touch with family and friends that are scattered throughout the world.  He couldn’t imagine himself with a pc but actually I couldn't imagine myself without one.  It is so useful and helpful for so many things.

This afternoon I caught up with a programme I recorded from last evening about the House That the 50s Built.  It is a series of four programmes that compares what a house would have looked like in 1950 and how it would look 10 years on as it reached the end of the decade.  This week's episode was all about the kitchen.  It echoed a conversation I had with my son only the other day when I told him that when I was a girl we didn't have television or washing machines or fridges (let alone freezers).  Working class people could not afford to have a telephone or central heating.  It was the decade when plastic and melamine became available, when a new drug called penicillin was introduced and gadgets like the automatic kettle, the toaster, the pressure cooker and the food mixer became known.  I remember my mother buying her first vacuum cleaner and non-stick pans were introduced ... ... and I could go on.

The thing is, looking back to 'the good old days', I don't think they were that good really.  So I welcome new technology, although it might take me a while to get the hang of it all!  Or as one lady in the bus queue commented, ‘Well we now live in the 21^st century and things are different, so he’d better get used to it!’

Game Surgery

It appears that the modders have been at it again, modifying new game technology for uses other than gaming. About a couple of years ago, XBox 360 brought out their newest technology - Kinect. This is a hands-free system that reacts to movement and voice commands. This means that your own voice or movement controls what happens in the game without you actually being connected by some cabled control that you click continuously and frantically in order to progress throughout the game.

The latest use for this technology has been in the operating theatres of selected hospitals on a trial basis. Surgeons sing its praises saying that it will speed up operations and decrease the risk of infection as they don't need to use a keyboard or be giving instructions verbally to other people to carry out their requests.

It is a serious consideration that within 10 years this technology will be common place in all hospitals. When you consider how quickly new technology is used to 'improve' weapons or destructive techniques for war, it is so reassuring to know that this technology is being used to help save lives. Some good news indeed.