Emerging From The Cocoon

On a Thursday night in May, God showed me one of His many miracles in His creation. He is so good.

I had the most exciting opportunity. About a month ago while raking leaves, I happened upon a cocoon attached to a leaf. I saved it and brought it home with me.

Fast forward a month. I rescued a beetle that was in my sink, and when I put it in a potted plant outside, I saw that the cocoon was missing. That was startling. I found it under the leaves of my potted plant and I picked it up – and it wiggled.

If you look really close in these photos, you can see the legs and wing design through the transparent cocoon.

I didn’t expect to be present when this was happening, so the fact that God brought a beetle into my sink at the right time so that I’d go outside at the right time – just wow.

I got to see the whole process, which took about an hour and a half. I may have taken 120+ photos of the process. (That means that I did. XD )  And now, you all get to see the process too. 😀

The little guy didn’t like me showing the underside of him, so I had to hold him to get this shot. The cocoon at this point was flexible and tender, so I had to be careful in order to not hurt the little fellow.

I put the cocoon into a glass jar (because quite frankly, I didn’t know what was coming out of there and I was convinced that was a stinger on the end 😂) to carry it to my baby peach tree and on the way, I heard a “CRACK.”

Sorry for the quality; the flash kind of wrecked it, but you can hopefully see it. It happened very quickly and I didn’t have time to get another shot off. He was very freaked out about being in a jar, so I hung him on my peach tree limb.

He seemed to be screaming, “HEEEEEEEEELP!!!” Poor thing. He eventually got a better grip on the leaf, after his legs dried out a bit.

Isn’t he something?! 😍

This is a head-on shot. He almost looks like a bird. XD

When I saw the underside, I was half convinced that it was a monarch butterfly.

But the top was all wrong. And then the wings started to unfold…

How cool is that? The colors were so vibrant.

And he had a very good grip. XD

Another head on shot. And then the wings unfolded more…

I like how the legs are a bit spiky and have little rings on them.

At this point, I seriously thought I was wrong and it was a Monarch butterfly after all.

The colors under the wings were right.

It’s hard to tell in these photos, but the wings weren’t straight as they appear. In the next one, it’s easier to see that.

And then all of the sudden, in one quick motion, its true nature was revealed…

It’s a moth. XD But for a while there, it had me fooled! A friend of mine identified it (and linked me to a website she found) as a Ilia Underwing Moth.

It was much bigger than the moths I usually see. (Sorry about the blur; I didn’t realize it needed to be retaken until it was too late to retake it. But at least the numbers on the tape measure are readable.)

And then he stretched his newly dried wings…

..flew onto my camera lens to say goodbye, and flew off into the night.

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I learned so much from this experience. For one, we are moths and butterflies. When we shed the old man to put on the new (as spoken of by Paul in the fourth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians) and become a new creature (mentioned in second Corinthians chapter five), He no longer considers us the greedy, selfish caterpillar we once were; only that we went into the dark night of the cocoon, to emerge a beautiful creation in Christ. ♥