Amazing Animals: Monarch Butterflies

Amazing Animals: Monarch Butterflies

Bible Blast: Read Jeremiah 9:23-24

As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” 1 Corinthians 1:31

Butterflies are so pretty. I think they look like flying flowers when I see them fluttering around the yard. I especially enjoy monarch butterflies. Their orange and black colors are so eye catching!

Monarchs are amazing for a few reasons, but something they’re most famous for is their migration. Every year, 100 million monarchs that can’t handle the cold of winter in parts of the United States fly to warmer climates. The amazing thing is that they fly to the same places in California and Mexico every year. They even fly to the same trees, which is really bizarre because butterflies have a very short life span and only migrate once in their life. That means that every year brand-new butterflies are flying to the same trees their ancestors have been flying to for years. The details and intricacies of God’s creation plan are so cool!

Before monarchs become butterflies, they are fat, striped caterpillars that only eat milkweed plants. Milkweed has stuff in it that makes the monarch poisonous when it’s an adult butterfly. So if a predator tries to eat the monarch butterfly, it will get very sick or die. That’s one reason why monarchs are so brightly colored. It’s a warning that says, “Back off! I’m poisonous!”

There’s another butterfly that looks a lot like a monarch but isn’t one. It’s called a viceroy. It has very similar orange and black markings on its wings with one little black horizontal line that lets us know it’s not a monarch. But predators don’t know the difference. They stay away from the viceroy thinking it’s a poisonous monarch, so both species are protected.

As Christians we need to be proud of serving and loving God. When we’re nervous that someone might make fun of us because of our faith, we shouldn’t try to disguise ourselves to look like everyone else. God wants us to wear our beautiful “Jesus colors” with joy so that others can see him in our lives and learn more about him.

Girl Gab: If you can, look for pictures of monarch butterflies during their migration. At first glance, they look like a bunch of fall-colored leaves in the trees, but then you’ll see the effect is actually made by millions of gorgeous monarch butterflies! Ask God for strength to be who he created you to be.