While growing up in northern Alabama, the arrival of summer brought with it some very special creatures. You probably know them as Junebugs and Fireflies.
But down south, we couldn’t afford “fireflies”. Ours were just plain old “lightning bugs”.
Every year around June, we would stay outside playing till dusk and suddenly the yard would come to life. A twinkle here, a spark there. Then a few minutes later, the lawn is glittering with hundreds of little bugs punching holes in the darkness. And the more the sun was extinguished, the more they seemed to shine even brighter.
If you were smart, you’d catch them in a clear Mason Jar, with holes poked in the top. The jar would serve as your bedside nightlight that evening, and you’d drift to sleep watching as they magically pulsed with light.
If enough fireflies filled up your yard, you’d be watching quite a dazzling performance each night as the darkness enveloped your neighborhood.
But there was another bug that showed up almost at the same time of year. These were fat green beetles we called “June Bugs”. But the June Bugs inspired no wonder in us. All they produced was a low humming noise as they buzzed around a couple of feet from the ground. More irritating really than entertaining.
If you were really creative, you could actually tie a thread onto the June bug’s spindly leg. Then when he tried to fly away, you’d hold the string and they’d spin around midair in a circle. It was like having a tiny, motorized balloon that buzzed. That is, until you accidentally tugged too hard and pulled its leg off.
The June bugs were attracted to the light on my back porch, but they seemed most drawn to the dead, rotting fruit that had dropped from our old peach tree. Then after a few weeks, I’d find them all floating on the surface of my little inflatable kiddie pool…
…this concludes my list of the glories of Junebugs.
Lightning bugs and June bugs do have a lot in common. They’re both beetles who mature about the same time each year, and they both have very short lifespans. The difference is in what they produce.
It seems to me that people today are either lightning bugs or June bugs. Some live beautiful lives of service and sacrifice for others, lighting their world with living proof of a loving God. But others, though attracted to the light just like the Junebugs, do little more than make a lot of noise.
Right now, everyone is “speaking out” (buzzing) about everything. If they disagree, they’re not just wrong, they’re the enemy. The louder they shout, you shout even louder! Escalate the attacks, make them as personal as possible! Fight fire with fire!
The louder we all get, the more I think of those fireflies. All they had to do to change the atmosphere was shut up and shine.
Maybe Jesus had fireflies in mind in Matthew 3:14-16 when He said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
To Jesus, it’s not as much about what we say as what we are doing. Do our actions point people to God and poke holes in the darkness? Or do we just spout off continually about our opinions, expecting mere words to save the world?
I always want to ask all the loudmouths on social media, “What children are you fostering? What poor neighborhoods are you volunteering in? How many homeless have you fed? Or are you really doing nothing at all but just adding to the noise around us?”
Evil tries to make our light seem so small and the darkness so vast. That’s because it knows we’re really only dangerous when we join our light with others.
For instance, every June in the Smoky Mountains National Park people flock to one area hidden back in the hills. Something occurs there that’s truly magical. The lightning bugs all mature and start to shine, trying to attract a mate just like they did at my house as a child. Except here in this one peculiar spot, something amazing happens…
They all shine together at once…pulsing…in…unison!
The pulsing lights somehow synchronize and instead of just producing tiny individual dots of light, the God of the Universe saw fit to coordinate them into one huge symphony of light.
Isn’t that just like our Creator God, leaving little surprises in nature for us to learn from?
So when you get frustrated at the smallness of your light – your circle, your influence, your importance – remember God hasn’t called you to fix the problems alone. He’s call each of us simply to do our parts, and to shine with the light we’ve been given.
And when we all shine together, that’s when the magic happens and lives are changed. And those little insignificant changes are what will eventually change the world.
Today, it’s your choice. You can join in and do your part, shining your light into an increasingly dark world. You can trust that God will gather all our light together into something that will warm hearts and chase away the night.
Or you can just gripe about how dark it is and do nothing.
The true Children of God don’t have to make any noise to get people’s attention. The world will come to us when we all shine TOGETHER!
But to do that, we must first lay aside our opinions and take up our cross.
And instead of shouting, we should simply sing those deeply philosophical words we all learned in Sunday School…
“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”
And in this ominously dark world, those are more than just “buzz words”.
Watch Dave’s message JUNEBUGS OR FIREFLIES here:
This was lovely! I came across it by accident when trying to find out if June bugs and fireflies were the same – God truly does work in wonderful ways. Blessings!
very touching I really enjoyed your commentary.