Month: April 2026

The Miracle of the Luna Moth

/ inkspeare / Leave a comment

The story I am about to tell happened to me last year. I don’t know if you are familiar with the Luna Moth, but it is beautiful and large. Its wings are fluorescent lime-green, and it is supposed to be a nocturnal moth. Luna moths only live for 7 days, and although they are not rare, because of their very short life span, they are rare to see. I have only seen two during my lifetime. At night they seem to glow because their fluorescent wings reflect the light. When I first saw one, I was in awe at how beautiful it was, and I did not know what it was; I thought it was the most gorgeous butterfly. I looked it up and, in the process, learned about it. I learned that because the Luna Moth only lives 7 days, it doesn’t have a mouth; it doesn’t eat. During that time, it reproduces to continue the species. What a wonder of nature.

Last year, while I was walking around the garden, I saw a Luna Moth in very bad shape. Its wings were shredded into pieces, only a wing seemed almost fine, but not quite. The poor moth was struggling on the ground and could hardly move. It was trying to reach a part of the garden where there were more plants. I felt so sad for it, but I could not do anything to help because I was afraid to hurt it more if I picked it up or try to place her where she was trying to go. The Luna Moth reached a spot in the garden and stopped there. It stayed there. It did not move much. Feeling helpless, I said, “Lord, please, help this creature of yours; send your angels to help.” Then, because I did not want to see it suffering, I started walking back to the side entrance of my house. I have only taken a few steps when suddenly, I saw a Luna Moth fly by me fast; it just almost touched me. I watched it fly high into the woods. Immediately, I went back only a few steps to where I had left the injured Luna Moth. It was gone. I looked around and I could not find it. I looked around some more. I knew it could not have gone far in less than a minute or so. I couldn’t contain my tears, tears of joy. I was sure that God had help the Luna Moth and restored its wings. I was in the presence of a miracle. I gave thanks.

I thought about it the entire day, and night; I still think about it from time to time. That day, God showed me that He cares about all His creation, but also, that He is always present, and that when we talk to Him, at any moment, He listens. His love is immense. God is good.

Not Happiness, but Joy

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One can be happy and joyful; however, these are not the same. Happiness is expressed at a particular moment, usually when we have good news, have a good time, we obtain or accomplish something we want, or experience a moment that is pleasant and produces the feeling. Joy remains in us, whether things are going our way or not so much. Joy is a state of the heart, mind, and soul. It is inside and reflects on the outside. Happiness is determined by outside occurrences and how we process them and react.

I know a person who has been blessed in many ways; however, this person is always sad, bored, complains about everything and everyone, and says, “I have never been happy.” Even when there is nothing wrong going on in the life of this person, even when people try hard to please and care, the reaction is always the same, sadness and misery. It is very hard to relate to this person because no matter what you say to uplift, counsel, or celebrate, this person always finds a negative word to counteract. This person brings back any particular experience in the past that was negative or painful, even when it may have happened decades ago. At present, this person is experiencing many blessings and surrounded by people who care, and the only thing this person has to do is enjoy the blessings and the people around these blessings, but this is not how this person sees life, on the contrary, this person lives in a continuous state of misery, and in the process, affects the mental and emotional being of others. I truly have never met anyone else like this.

I relate the above story to illustrate that joy does not depend on circumstances such as monetary blessings, health, stability, or any other external factors. This person has all that at the present but cannot experience joy. Yes, as humans, we are fragile and we have moments of sadness and experience painful circumstances in life, sometimes, unbearable. We go through the emotions and feelings that are associated with a particular painful experience, sadness, desperation, anger, brokenness… and we grieve; however, it too shall pass. When we have joy in our life, we know this well, and we recognize our struggles, but also know that we can experience inner peace in the midst of a storm. In my opinion, the best peace is the peace and assurance that I experience through Jesus Christ. It feels like I am not alone to bear it all. This has been my experience in hard times.

One can be momentarily happy, but Joy lives inside a person and it does not depend on happy moments. Life, a gift from God, offers us an array of experiences that we must go through as part of our journey. One can fight it all the way and be miserable an entire existence, like the person I mentioned above, or one can embrace the journey with everything it brings, and find balance, peace, and harmony through letting joy in. May you open your life to receive joy.

Flowers (Photo by M.A.D.)