“Oh no, Baby Rae, it’s dead,” Madeline said.
Rachel looked at the smushed bug on the pavement and said, “No, it’s not.”
Madeline, ever the empathetic one, patted her sister’s shoulder. “It’s okay, but it is dead.” She looked at me for confirmation.
“Yes, I think it’s dead. We just have to handle bugs carefully because they’re so much smaller than us.”
“I ‘sowry,'” Rachel said to the deceased.
“Ladybugs don’t understand apologies, especially dead ones,” Madeline pointed out.
Rachel crouched low and looked at what now looked like a red smear on our patio and gently started blowing on it.
Then she began to shout, “It’s alive, Mommy! I ‘blowed’ on it, and now it’s crawling.”
Sure enough the ladybug was creeping away from us, his smushed body peeled from the pavement.
“Wow,” I said. (I really thought that bug was a goner.)
Madeline watched the ladybug scuttle away, and then smiled. “It’s a miracle,” she said. “A real miracle.”
With the sun shining down on us, the baby digging in the dirt, and my two girls marveling at Lazarus the Ladybug, I whispered a quick prayer of gratitude, “Thank God for small miracles, and thank God for the children who recognize them.”
what a great story!!
hahah…how cute! but, did you know that ladybugs use "playing dead" as a defense mechanism?? I learned that at a ladybug festival one year here in south Louisiana =)
Way to crush a little girl's spirit, Cathy. :-) Completely kidding, of course. But the truth is what I loved about this moment was how it captured children's ability to find awe in the smallest things. I didn't really see the ladybug's return to life as a real miracle and truth be told, I don't think he's ever going to fly again and he left behind one of his legs when he started crawling again (bugs are wise to play dead around my intrepid bug catchers and do quite often). But there was something beautiful about that moment and my child's faith. Here I am waiting for lightening bolts and she finds a miracle in a humble lady bug. My children are very good teachers indeed. :-)
didn't mean to crush your spirit =) you can keep that piece of trivia to yourself…that way the girls always have a fond memory of their 'miracle ladybug' I always look for bigger things, too, but it seems God prefers to be found in the smallest and quietest of His creations…it should teach me to be quiet more, but my learning curve is pretty gradual..oh well. yes, the ages of our kids are similar, and the wonder they have at those ages is so much fun to watch! I'll be sad when that is gone…
So sweet!
Great story! It's tough to learn your own strength when you're little, but nice to be so confident in God's strength! It's totally cliche, but the world really is amazing when you look at it through the eyes of a child! (it's one of those cliche-cause-it's-true kind if things I think!)
Oh my gosh, gave me a good happy cry. Thank you for sharing this story, I would prefer to believe it was one of God's miracles for now…. :)