Adjusting to life again in our Nation’s Capitol, we decided to visit the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.  It is a lovely park situated along a hillside of Rock Creek Park with winding trails, lots of exhibits and lots and LOTS of visitors.  Like every zoo it houses the usual characters.  But there was one exhibit that totally fascinated me.

The swamp exhibit caught my attention and wouldn’t let me go.  I watched for several minutes until my eyes could adjust to the minute nature of the animal life housed within it.  There were beautiful lily pads that were flowering, abundant small green frogs resting on the lily pads, and a swarm of dragonflies that swooped and dived and darted in and among the frogs and flowers.  These dragonflies were a beautiful sight, graceful in their own way, and amazing in how they could stand almost still in midair like tiny, neon blue helicopters.

I marveled at the genius of the zoo planners who made sure there was space among the larger zoo life, for an exhibit for the minute dragon fly.

When we feel small and insignificant and lost amid the swamps of everyday life; when our self-esteem feels no larger than a pea and we think we have nothing to contribute to anyone anywhere . . . . . . remember the National Zoo.  Even the tiny dragonfly warrants an exhibit and contributes to the overall wonder of life on this planet.

God’s creation is wasted on nothing – not on the dragonfly and certainly not on us.  Never doubt that God’s constant care envelopes each one of us.

“Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are not you more important than they?” (Matt 6:26)