On a recent morning I was in the back yard with my camera looking for things to photograph.  A beautiful, golden Monarch Butterfly landed on a bush not more than three feet from me, spread its wings and proudly displayed its magnificence.  A major part of the success of photography is being at the right place, at the right time, with the right camera, and with the right lens.  Well, I was at the right place, at the right time, with the right camera, but with the wrong lens.  I had my 75 – 300 mm telephoto, automatic focus lens, which requires me to be a minimum of 4.9 feet from the subject to focus.  Plus I had it set on auto-focus, which sometimes works against me because it focuses on the wrong thing at the wrong time.  By time I got everything set, the butterfly said, ”see ya“, flew over the fence, and headed west.  With great agony I groaned a prayer – ”Lord, please bring him back“.  I waited for several minutes, but to my disappointment he did a ”no show“ and I went into the house and put my camera away for another day.

A week or so later I was sitting at the kitchen table writing in my journal.  This is my most affective way of praying and having devotion.  Often times my prayers are in the form of a letter to God and many times they turn into a two way conversation.  I admit at times it seems like I am having a conversation with myself, but I know it is much deeper than that.  On this particular morning I was, as best I recall, struggling with an issue and I was telling God that I was making a commitment to trust Him no matter what.  You know, one of those times when I was probably trying to convince myself.  The voice in my mind said, ”Let’s go outside and take some pictures“, Well, my mind kind of took a double-take, and I paused.  He went on to say, ”The monarch you asked me to bring back is out there.“  Now let me tell you, instant doubt jumped up in my face.  You know, it was one of those times when you get a test.  I learned a long time ago that these tests are not for God to see where I am.  He already knows.  These tests are for me to know where I am.  I made up my mind I meant what I had just told Him about trusting him so I put down my pen and went to my office to get my camera.  I moved mighty slowly in putting the camera on the tripod and going to the back yard.

As I went out on the back porch, Baby, our American Husky, was her usual excited self jumping around wanting to be petted and hoping for a treat.  I petted her and told her to hang loose for a few minutes, which, of course, meant nothing to her, and she raced through the door when I opened it.  I think I kind of thought that the chances of the butterfly staying with all that activity were slim to none.  I got Baby quieted down and I just stood there looking around.  Nothing.  Then from the west (you’ll recall that was the direction the Monarch flew) came a golden monarch and flew into our blackberry patch, which was covered by a net, and landed on a bush.  Because of the net and the wire fence around it the tripod was going to be a hindrance so I removed it and walked slowly to the fence, lifted up the netting, made sure my camera was set on macro, and began taking pictures.  One of the things I love about a digital is I can take hundreds of pictures without spending a penny for film or developing and sometimes I need to take that many pictures to capture the picture I want.  Butterflies don’t normally pose with a smile – they flutter.

As I took picture after picture I just couldn’t seem to get a clear one.  He would be behind a leaf, or jerking around, and then suddenly he flew to the top of the net and into a corner where I couldn’t see him at all.  So I crept around the patch through the garden to the other side stepping over tomato plants and trying to be graceful.  (Ha!)  When I finally was able to get under the netting I looked for him and to my surprise there were two of them – mating.  I tried to get a picture, but with all the wing fluttering, etc. it was a challenge and after a few minutes I decided I had done as much as I could.  I got out of the netting and climbed back over the tomato plants and as I walked around a large Cana – right in front of me, about five feet, was a beautiful, Golden Monarch sitting on a bush just waiting for me.  This is the one God brought back for me.  I got my picture.  It will always will be a tremendous reminder of how personal God’s relationship is to me.