The Story of the Butterfly

Many of you know that I spend many hours photographing the wild life that visit the Woods Secret Garden. There are always plenty of birds, squirrels, and even a couple of chipmunks. Rarely do I see a butterfly. I would, on occasion, see a couple of butterflies; however, we do not have many flowers for them to enjoy and with so many birds, they don’t hang around long enough for me to capture them with the camera.

Fast forward to yesterday. Lindsay and I have been meeting regularly for approximately a year for coffee and fellowship around the Word of God. I have never brought my camera to our meetings, accept once when Lindsay agreed to model one of my handmade, cross shoulder bags.

Yesterday morning, as I was getting ready to meet with Lindsay, I decided to bring my camera and I wasn’t even sure why. Even my husband found it odd and said, “You are bringing your camera?” I answered, “Yes, I just might have a photo opportunity today”.

When I arrived, Lindsay was not yet there and so I ordered my Latte. While standing at the counter, my eye caught a huge yellow butterfly on the flowers that are planted under a tree on the outside patio of the Coffee Shop. I finished paying for my Latte and pointed out the butterfly to the young woman at the counter (who was somewhat amazed that I had even noticed it because it was so far away and outside) and asked her if I could just leave by bag and book on the counter and go out to see if I could capture that butterfly. She agreed. So, I grabbed my camera and headed out the door. To my amazement that beautiful butterfly stayed on and around the flowers for what seemed like forever!

When Lindsay arrived and noticed what was going on, I asked her if she would go ahead and order her coffee and if she wouldn’t mind also grabbing my stuff from the counter. Lindsay got her coffee and my things and was able to join me and the butterfly out on the patio. That was just the beginning of a very delightful time. We were giggling like little girls as the butterfly would fly all around us and the flowers. I was desperately attempting to get a mid-air shot. That is way harder than I thought. The flight of a butterfly is much more erratic than that of a bee or a hummingbird.

What no one knew but me and what makes this even more wonderful, is that a couple of weeks ago, in a very child-like way, I had asked the Lord if He might be so kind as to send me a butterfly to photograph.