Lovebugs...What DOES Love Have To Do With It?

Lovebugs here in the south are a phenomenon that takes place each year around September and continues until cooler weather sets in. These little bugs are so numerous they can make a nice white paint job look a beautiful moving black. They are pests that fly around not hurting anything, but being everywhere and landing on anything, including your face and mouth.

Where did they come from? Do they have any animal that is their natural enemy (besides a person whose windshield and grillwork is covered with them) - are they considered a part of any creature's food chain?

I wondered on that for years as their numbers seemed to increase. I asked professionals about them any opportunity I had, but not a great number of studies have been done on this insect.

One day I watched a bird flying in my yard as it scooped up a pair of these bugs. Within a few seconds it had "spit" them out, not interested in the readily available lovebug feast. I thought, "They must really taste bad for birds not to be interested in them."

But there's other insect "eaters" besides birds, so I still hoped there was something that would enjoy them and help keep the population down.

My next thought was maybe spiders would eat them. Even though they may not LOVE them, maybe they would at least snack on them. I had seen some caught in webs, so maybe...
But one of my quilting ladies told about seeing a large yellow garden spider in its web actually disengaging some from its sticky trap and carrying it over and throwing it out of the web in disgust. Well, that answers that question...

My young teenage son asked the other day why we call them LOVEBUGS, because no one LOVES these bugs! "Why don't they call them the "Really Don't Like 'Em" bugs, or "Can't Stand 'Em" bugs, something like that! "

When I explained to him that the bugs' name wasn't because of how people feel about them, but because of what they do, he had the decency to blush and wish he hadn't asked the question.

Many of us here in the southern area of our country continue to be overwhelmed by these little bugs, and I ask you ... what DOES Love have to do with it?!?

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Here's my quote for the day:
"A rumor is about as hard to unspread as softened butter."
Hmmmm...

Blogging and Battling

Here I sit again in the wee morning hours thinking, worrying, praying, reading, then thinking some more. (You know - those things "mama hearts" dwell on when awake at 3 a.m.)

This time in our country's history is mind blowing in its significance. There is the HUGE importance of the presidential election ever rising before our eyes ( and ears). And the biggest immediate mountain before us - our economy. How DID we get to this point?!? It is critical for a decision to be made immediately by congress to try to avoid a financial crisis as bad as that of the WWII era.

What does that mean for us - my children, my children-in-laws, my grandchildren, my friends, my other family members young and old, my dear quilting seniors, my country, my world?

While thinking on this a few days ago there were some scriptures that calmed my "mama's heart." In Ps.37 I read things like: "their inheritance will endure forever; in times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty; the Lord helps them and delivers them because they take refuge in Him." Hmmmmmm...

So, here I sit, blogging and battling with my self. "Self, trust the Lord. He cares more than YOU do."

And of course my self answers back with the fighting blow, "But what groceries do I need to stock pile for us?"

Verse: "...take refuge in Him." Ahhh, I felt that quick deflection.

"But what about milk, meat, coffee, shampoo, toothpaste, even toilet tissue!?" (The punches and jabs are relentless.) "You know you'll need all that stuff! What if you can't get it?"

Verse: "...in days of famine they will enjoy plenty." WHAM! Staggerring blow.

"What about the other countries that would like nothing better than to see our country in crisis, suffering?" Pow, pow, pow - the blows pummel me.

"SELF!" I say sternly inside as I grab my "self" by the colar. "When we take refuge in Him, HE FIGHTS FOR US!" BAMM...Knockout!!!

End of this battle. I'm sure the next one will happen before long, but for now I'll enjoy the peaceful glow, and have another sip of my tea.

Here's a quote: "A bad habit is like a soft chair...easy to get into, but hard to get out of." Hmmmm... kind of like worrying... Hmmmm...

The Eye Exam

Eye exam time has come again and it was necessary to dialate the eyes. You know, drops in - sting, burn - WHAM, pupils as big as pencil erasers!... As I was walking down the hall at the office afterwards and feeling for the walls, it struck me how much I rely on my eyes ALL the time. I don't really think about them until something like this happens that interrupts my coasting along in life being able to have my eyesight to assist me. The eyes are there doing their job summer or winter, morning or night - whenever I need them. All I have to do is open them and -ahhh- there they are, steady as can be, making me able to see (usually pretty clearly) and not making a fuss about it.
Have you met people like that? You know, the kind that call no attention to themselves, but are there in the background just as steady as can be, not demanding, not standing out too much - just getting the job done.
The problem is - just like my eyes - I tend to not think about them untill there's a problem. Hmmmmm...
So, I'm taking this moment and appreciating those in the background of life: the janitors that work so I can enjoy a clean bathroom at church, the dishwashers that work so I can eat on a clean plate at my favorite resturant, the people who work to stock the shelves so I can find what I need at the grocery store - usually, the people who work to get the carts put up so I can park in the parking lot because we don't like to take the time to do it ourselves ...
There's really a lot of people working behind the scenes when you think about it...

Of Mary and Martha in the Bible, these are the Marthas of this world, and I just love Martha! She's my kind of gal! - Not perfect, but willing to work hard whether she was given the star of recognition or not. (Her only complaint was that SHE NEEDED SOME HELP! I can sooo identify with that!)
Here's a quote I read recently: "Those who invest their efforts in living to please God have an everlasting honor to look forward to. Who is building your life? You or God?"
(That made MY focus get a little clearer! I mean - why am I doing things? Hmmm...)
Well, that was a good look into my SELF...kind of like the doctor looking in the backs of my eyes and telling me things going on with my body. Whoa!

So ... new glasses ordered, everything is fine. One eye wants to act like it's older than the other and require more help, but we'll take care of that. So - all done...