Dragonflies - My Favorite!

I might do a series on "These are a few of my favorite things" though I promise NOT to sing the song along the way...

I'd most assuredly have to start with Dragonflies. Now just the first sentence in Wikipedia alone is enough to secure my absolute adoration for these enchanted flying creatures: "Dragonflies are valuable predators that eat mosquitoes(!), and other small insects like flies(!), bees(!), ants(!)... They are usually found around lakes(!), ponds(!), streams(!) and wetlands because their larvae, known as "nymphs", are aquatic(!)..." (Exclamation points are mine of course...lol)

I LOVE that they eat all those things I don't like - they left out spiders though- but that's ok. Everything has a weakness; truth is, dragonflies are probably scared of spiders. Like Mr Raider of the Lost Ark and his snakes. (I loved that scene, probably dating myself again...)

And I LOVE to hang out where dragonflies do -- around water, though they apparently also enjoy meadow-y land and can be seen here often. And who can forget Chasah's wedding?! There were literally hundreds flying everywhere. We live in such an enchanted place!

So those things in themselves create an affinity (my daughter's new favorite word) for me with dragonflies. But I actually have a very sweet story to tell you as well.

When we first moved out onto this land, there was hardly anything but old farm tools and a few skulls from cows and the like. Pretty desolate in a lot of ways. There wasn't even electricity. SO, as we worked to create the amazing village we now enjoy, we set up temporary measures to fulfill life's daily duties along the way.

A new one for me was hanging clothes on a line to dry. I had never done this before. Well, not out of necessity. I'd hung things out here and there but never daily - as in, if you want your clothes to dry you'd better get them up on the clothesline. It was quite a novelty. Now I know that a lot of people do this by choice, and I'm all for that - if you want stiff underwear that's certainly your prerogative-
and now that I've said that, I'm sure I'll be laboring in some under-developed country someday and y'all will remind me of this off-handed comment (and if you see me walking funny you'll know why) - but for me at the time it was quite a novelty. It felt like we were playing Little House on the Prairie - but without the house.

Anyways, I was hanging my laundry out to dry one day and a dragonfly landed right in front of my nose. He(?) landed on a clothespin directly in front of where I was standing. I'm talking eyeball to eyeball(s) with a dragonfly.

Now there were wondrous stories floating around concerning our beloved Noah, how back in Geneva, FL he would hold out his finger and time after time dragonflies would land there. There were also stories floating around of people who tried that and had failed. Dragonflies DIDN'T land on THEIR fingers...And secretly, I wished that it would happen to me - er, the first scenario, not the second.

So there I was, eye to eyes with a dragonfly. And a voice inside of me said, "Hold out your finger."

Now I actually thought that this voice might be God talking to me. But I wasn't sure. I mean I was, like, really UNSURE. So this other voice inside of me (do you have multiple voices talking inside of you sometimes? Wait until they start talking outside of you sometimes! I'm just sayin'...And I KNOW a couple of my friends who resemble this remark are probably LOL-ing right now)

Anyways, that second voice inside of me answered back, "No way! I am NOT going to hold out my finger."

And the first voice said again (so either I was disagreeing with God, or crazily talking to myself - I wasn't sure which), "Hold out your finger!"

And I likewise replied, "I am NOT going to hold out my finger! What if the dragonfly doesn't land on it?" -- So basically, I would rather have NOT taken the risk. Never known rather than endure the disappointment. This was my short-sighted stance.

The dragonfly lifted and moved to another clothespin, but was still close by.

Again, and stronger, I heard/felt: "Hold out your finger."

At this point, if I can redeem myself at least a little, I was thinking, "Maybe this is really God speaking to me." Once that thought was really acknowledged, well, I was really left with no choice, now, was I?

So I held out my finger.

And IMMEDIATELY, I'm talking NO hesitation, the dragonfly lifted and came and sat on my finger.

And I began to cry.

And then God spoke to me and I knew it was Him. He said, "I will never ask you to do something that I won't back up and provide for." - or something like that. It's been a while and my memory isn't as sharp on exact details but the gist is very right on.

And there I was, on that lovely summer morning, at the top of what is now Windy Hill Lane, my finger extended straight out in front of me, a dragonfly sitting there almost nose-to, err, nose, and I was bawling my eyes out.

It actually makes me laugh now when I envision what that must have looked like. It's what made me think to retell the story here.

And my dear friend, Hashachar, came over and found me there. Laundry down by my ankles. Dragonfly on my finger. Bawling my eyes out. Just another ordinary day in the life of God at Rose Creek Village...

I told her the story and then I told all the ladies at our next ladies' meeting and from that time on I've had the privilege and good fortune of being associated with dragonflies!

This works out really great at birthdays and special events where gift-giving is in order. It turns out that countless home interior decorators, as well as the fashion industry itself have an inordinate fascination with dragonflies and put them on everything. It is never hard to find a gift for me -- in case you were at a loss as to what to get me on my birthday...which you just missed...

Dragonflies have always served as a reminder to believe. To believe in God. To believe in people. To believe in myself WHEN I am believing in God and believing people... ;-)