Fireflies and unexpected light

 

 

The first time I ever saw an actual firefly, I was a 20-year-old missionary serving in Brazil. I was in a beautiful city called Londrina with my favorite companion, Elder Givens. Late one evening we were out in a somewhat remote area trying to find some referrals. That was a challenge in 1977; we certainly had no smartphone with GPS lookup, and not very good paper maps. The area of the city had no street lights; as the evening grew darker, we struggled to read the addresses on the slip of paper. But Elder Givens was from Virginia, and he noticed something that I was totally unaware of - fireflies, blinking on and off among the grasses of a field next to us! He quickly captured one of the flies in his hands, and using the blink of the light, we were able to make out the writing and remember what address we were seeking. (It would have been a dramatic conclusion to the story if the experience had led to a "golden" family just waiting to hear our message so they could be converted, but sadly, it turned out to be unproductive.)

Fireflies are rare in the western United States. But since my experience in Brazil, while living in the eastern US, I was fascinated to see the insects again, and then to have other encounters with them through the years in various parts of the world. Once while driving a car in a remote area of Argentina, my wife and I stopped in the evening to do a little star-gazing, and guess what - firefiles in the field by the road!

Fireflies seem to defy our understanding of the world. Doesn't light come from electricity? From light bulbs?? How can an insect produce light - and an actually pretty strong light, given their tiny abdomens? Later I would learn about bioluminescence and the chemical reactions that result in this wonder, and of the likely purpose involving mating.

To me this has been a personal ongoing reminder to #GiveThanks for the miracles of God's creation, which I continue to discover; and a sweet memory of a happy experience with a dear lifelong friend.

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