One January three years after my husband, Eric, and I married, we moved into our dream home. At last, a place big enough for our blended family! We had been squeezing our five kids into Eric’s three-bedroom house. I was beyond grateful to have enough room for everyone. Life was so much easier.
Then I started noticing ladybugs inside—everywhere. We’d wake up in the morning and there were dozens of them on each window. At first, I gathered them up and put them back outside, but in a matter of hours, there were just as many as before. It was so overwhelming that I didn’t invite people over; I didn’t want them thinking our house was dirty or unkempt. We even had to put napkins over our glasses or we’d end up with ladybugs in our drinks! I was so upset.
One day I was helping one of the kids with science homework, which involved looking up the names of groups of animals. It turns out, a bunch of zebras is called a dazzle, a group of owls is a parliament and a swarm of ladybugs is called a loveliness.
A loveliness… Was that how God saw these beetles? That made me rethink my attitude. Ladybugs are God’s creation, after all. They hadn’t come into my new home to annoy me. They were just trying to stay warm. When spring came, they went back outside.
We still get ladybugs in our house every winter, but nowhere near as many as we did that first year. Whenever I see one, it’s a reminder that we share the world with God’s creatures, all of which are lovely in their own way.
Dear Lord, thank you for showing me your creation and reminding me that you gave us all a home.
