Lightning bugs are so amazing, I just painted,
Children of Light, so they have been on my heart. Not too long ago, the Lord really spoke to me through them, they seemed to be everywhere this year. I asked Him why He created them, praising Him for His artistry and He told me as Christians we are like them:
- We GLOW because we carry His light in dark places.
- We are a wonder to the world, especially when we move by the Spirit, because it is supernatural.
- They use their light to attract others so they can reproduce, and we are called to use His light to make disciples too.
- We have to be like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven…and Fireflies bring out the child in us…and make us smile. How many of us have memories of running around with a jar at dusk collecting them with our brothers and sisters? Or going to sleep with a jar of them on our bedside table.
Jesus said, “For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have so darkness doesn’t destroy you. If you walk in darkness, you don’t know where you’re going. As you have the light, believe in the light. Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You’ll be children of light.” ~ John 12:35
One night I was in my kitchen, and I saw a lightning bug caught in a spider’s web outside my window. I was in a hurry, but had the thought I should go outside and help him get free, but forgot all about it as I got busy. The next day I was washing dishes, when I saw the lightning bug again, but this time, he was not moving, he was completely dead. The Lord started speaking to me, He told me that this little firefly’s light would never shine again. I cried, I identified with it because I was struggling with something myself that felt like a spiderweb and I feared it would render me useless for the Lord. We, as Christians can so easily get entangled in webs and traps that are set for us.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ~ Gal 5:1
The situation was a person God had told me to stay away from, because the relationship was not healthy, but I was having a hard time letting them go. One night they came to see me, and after their visit, we opened the front door, and there was a huge perfect spider web going completely across the threshold. The Lord spoke to me, He said, this relationship is like a spider web in your life, if you continue to spend time with them, you will end up like that firefly. I got my camera, and took pictures of the web. Later, when I went to edit them, I could see this person getting in their car through the photo. Again the Lord spoke, if you decide to remain friends with them, you are choosing to go through the web to get to them.As I resisted being with them, the presence of God was becoming stronger and stronger in my life. One night I was on the computer, the sun had set, but I had not yet turned on the lights in my house. I was chatting online, telling someone how God was blessing me, and that I had finally closed the door on this relationship. As I did, a light kept catching my eye in my dark house as I was typing on my computer, but I did not pay much attention to it. Eventually I could not ignore it, because it had come right in front of me. I couldn’t believe it, but it was a Lightning Bug!!! In my HOUSE! How did that happen? The Lord, again spoke and said to me, “Look at how it is glowing and flying, isn’t it beautiful?” Yes…it was, and I praised HIM for setting me free!
Ok, I wrote this in the morning and later that night around 11:30pm I decided to run to the store. I was in a hurry because I know the store closes at midnight. As I went out my front door I walked right through a spider web. It was across my threshold, the exact same place as the one I had seen before.I noticed the spider building his web earlier when I went on my front porch for something, and thought that I should probably knock it down, but figured I wouldn’t be going anywhere until morning, and it would probably be gone by then. So when I left I had forgotten all about it, and walked right through it, but of course THEN I remembered seeing it earlier.As I was pulling the webs off…and getting the heebie jeebies wondering if there was a spider on me…a firefly came right up and flew all around me. I thought it was so odd that this would happen, and even stranger how compelled I felt to go to the grocery store right then.
So I contemplated on my drive to the store and then again on the way home. When I walked up my front steps, I looked for the remnants of the web and I saw the spider was still there. I was relieved that he wasn’t on me, but sad when I looked closer and realized he had a firefly in what was left of his web. The spider was right beside him and it looked like he was biting the firefly, the little bugs light was blinking so fast like he was putting out a distress signal. This time I took the time to loose him, although I feared it was too late.
I came in and started asking the Lord what He is trying to show me. I think He was saying He wants us to be diligent to watch for the webs…and remember when and where we have seen them. If the thought comes to you to knock it down, then do it, right then, so when you are busy, you won’t forget it is there and walk right into it. If you see another believer caught in a web, then go to them and help them get free, don’t wait until later because it might be too late.
OK…this is CRAZY…but as soon a I finished writing this, for some reason, I went out to check on the lightning bug and to my surprise, he was crawling around. I helped him onto my hand and immediately he started FLYING!!! He hung out for a really long time in front of me, just hovering, weaving in and out of the columns on my porch, across the threshold, like he was thanking me for saving him. I watched with tears as he took off, given a second chance to fly…his light glowing in the darkness.
John 1:3
Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.
Eyes2See 