Tag Archives: azaleas

Weekly Photo Challenge: Symmetry

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In a recent photo challenge of “yellow,” I featured some migrating Monarch butterflies. One of my Facebook friends commented, “Don’t you have some pictures of tiger swallowtails?” Why, yes I do. These were taken in April of 2013 at my sister’s home in Virginia at the peak of the azalea blooms. Butterfly wings are wonderful examples of symmetry as they are perfect mirror images in size and design.

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For more examples of “symmetry” click HERE.

The beautiful and symmetrical butterfly begins as an ugly but symmetrical caterpillar. However, its metamorphosis into something so incredibly different in appearance and mobility might cause one to not believe they are the same creature.

Likewise, the believer in Christ is said to go through a similar metamorphosis.

Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2, HCSB)*

The same word “transformed” is the word from which metamorphosis is derived. In the text it is a present imperative tense verb, thus a command that involves continuous action. As the Christian experiences transformation, it is not always an immediate, dramatic change, but a process that will find its completion in a thoroughly new creation, redeemed and reformed from the vestiges of a self-centered life to a God-directed life.

*Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

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In honor of the first day of Spring, I’ve changed my header* and added a late entry to the “inside” challenge theme. While visiting my sister’s home in Richmond last Spring, I found her beautifully blooming azaleas were attracting Tiger Swallowtail butterflies and bumblebees. Here are just a few of the hundreds of shots I took of these insects plunging “inside” these blooms for nectar and pollen.

Josh R. suggests: Showing things relative to other things allows you to emphasize a particular subject (a ship in a bottle), show juxtaposition (a clown drinking in a bar) or abstract themes (oil in a puddle). The “inside” idea can be as wide-open as your imagination wants to make it. From the simple to the absurd, it works on almost any level. Click HERE for more “inside” entries.

* I mentioned the seasonal change of this blog’s header in The Seasons of Life.