After all the summer throngs and thrills of Hawks and Tigers (see, for example, Mystic Moths), the first venture of the light trap this autumn, on 10th October, yielded just… one moth!
Quality, however, more than made up for quantity. The insect in question was a Merveille du Jour, a stunning moth, clothed handsomely in its dapper green and black ‘jacket’.
I love the fitting name as well as the moth itself. Merveille du Jour is French for ‘Wonder of the Day’.
For me, it was one of the lepidopteral wonders of my year.
Wonder is central to my faith, to my being.
Like a lot of 21st Century Christians, my faith has undergone a necessary transition of de- / re-construction. It’s not that I no longer believe in God, or Jesus – I just believe in a wider, wilder, more expansive way than would fit into the theological constraints of churches I’ve belonged to over the years.
It sounds pretentious or pompous to call the process a ‘second awakening’, but it seems a good description.
My love of nature, a tendency to marvel at the Universe, is more important to my sense of God than ever before.
When all the difficult questions and debatable beliefs are stripped away, a childlike wonder remains at the heart of my faith: an anchor for my soul reflecting the beauty that surrounds me.
Or as Rumi said, in a way that applies at least as much to religion as to anything:
“Sell your cleverness, and buy bewilderment.”
I may not see a Merveille du Jour or “Wonder of the Day” every day, but every day is a day of wonder.
(All photos taken by me, but not copyright – i.e. feel free to use them, with my blessing!)
Spirit of Nature 