Rhapsody of Spring

Spring is surely here!  Today I saw several ladybugs near our front steps.  They must have emerged from under leaf residue to lay eggs and do their part in the ecosystem. They may be beneficial insects, eating everything from dandelions to harmful mites, but I like them because they are beautiful!  The shiny red shell with attractive black spots makes them a natural inspiration for artists, illustrators, and textile designers.

The cute ladybug is popular in children's books and stories, especially the timeless nursery rhyme:  Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children all gone; All except one, and that's little Anne, for she crept under the warming pan. ( A reference to the quite un-ladylike tendency to eat their young?)

My young granddaughters have had ladybug-themed birthday parties, Halloween costumes, and ladybug-bedecked play clothes.  I have a red-painted, dropleaf kitchen table with a vinyl cover--clear, except for the proliferation of ladybugs painted on its surface. (When wiping it down, I often find myself trying to scrub off a spot of ladybug!) 

I also saw several robins today!  Their cheerful red-orange breast is a spot of color on new-greening grass or in the robin-egg-blue sky as they fly over.

 In a store earlier, I was captivated by a brown-eyed doll in the cart in front of me.  A two-year-old girl child, her short, thick black hair curled appealingly around her cherubic face as she regarded me with studied solemnity.  Her brother, who held up four fingers when asked his age, carried on an animated conversation with us, pointing out the features of the toy in his hand.  When he waved bye to us as they left, the baby girl waved and sang out "bye-bye" too!

I am packing to go visit the little granddaughters for the 3-year-old's fourth birthday on Saturday.  I guess I am homesick for them. (My husband said I woke him up saying, "Where's the baby?" in the night last night.  I seem to remember dreaming about a baby.)  Anyway, all young things are beautiful and irresistible.

In some cultures, the ladybug is called "the little animal of our good Lord," and is thought of as "belonging directly to God." But doesn't every young thing He created?  And everything and everybody else, too, for that matter, although we have the choice to choose Him or reject Him.
  
The scripture says of the redeemed that "...thy youth is renewed like the eagle's," Psalm 103:5.  Isaiah 40:31 promises, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."  I'm claiming these verses for me, especially as I try to keep up with the younger generation this weekend!