Miracles

Sometimes, miracles are life changing. And sometimes, they are small and personal. Today, I had a small and personal miracle.

We have season tickets to the Cleveland Browns, and today's game (while they lost) was a treat because the Ohio State University band (the best band in the land!) played the half-time show. I LOVE marching bands!!

But I digress... sometime early in the 1st quarter, something flew right into my neck and fell on my lap. I jumped a bit, and looked down to see a GIANT insect. The girl next to me started completely freaking out, practically climbing on top of her boyfriend's head.

It was a dragonfly. Clear wings with black veins, green-yellow on its body, and long black legs. It's wingspan was about 5 inches. And it was sitting on my lap on top of my wadded up jacket. I picked up my jacket so I didn't squish it under my arm. And I just looked at this amazing creature. A moment of serenity in the middle of the noise and humanity of a major sporting event.

I told the girl next to me that dragonflies don't bite or sting, and she calmed down a bit. I tried to get it to fly away, blowing on its wings, trying to coax it off and on its way. It was the largest dragonfly I've ever seen alive.

When it was apparently not going anywhere, I let it sit there, on my jacket on my lap. I wanted to take a picture of it, but my phone was in my coat pocket and I knew it would leave if I tried.

I thought it was maybe dead, it was sitting so still. But then, all at once, it flew off.

It continued to fly around, diving and fluttering over our heads, practically running into us again. At one point, the lady behind me tapped me and said, "Don't you wish you would have killed that thing when you had the chance?" And I said, "No! They don't sting or bite, and they are good luck." She didn't say anything after that.

The dragonfly is very similar to the butterfly - they both are flying insects with four wings, and they both go through a metamorphosis period to emerge as fully formed and functional new creatures. For the dragonfly (and its closest relative, the damselfly), life starts out encased in an egg. These eggs are laid in water, and when the young dragonfly emerges, it is known as a nymph.

They can spend three years in the nymph stage, living in water, waiting to truly take form. The chance that the procedure of morphing from nymph to dragonfly is painful is very high. The first step seems easy enough. The nymph just climbs out of the water to rest on a plant stem or leaf. But then, the process really begins! The skin of the nymph begins to split, with the new head emerging from the ruins. The rest of it emerges, until finally free, its wings have a chance to dry and become strong enough to fly. The process takes about two hours. However, it won’t be fully complete for another day or two, when the beautiful colors begin to fully come in.

Once it goes through metamorphosis, it flies into the air and looks down at where it came from. It is suddenly in a new medium, a medium that would be vastly inconceivable by water creatures such as it had been under the surface. Its configuration and physiology undergo such a total change that it could be somewhat analogous to comparing it to a two-legged's spirit when it rises up and enters the spirit world. Dragonfly can now discover, search, and grow, by a simple beat of its wings.

Dragonflies are incredible - they are amazing flyers, darting like light, twisting, turning, changing direction, even going backwards. They are inhabitants of two realms - starting with water, and moving to the air with maturity, but staying close to water. Some believe they represent change. In Japan, they represent new light and joy, courage, strength, and happiness. Dragonflies are reminders that we are light and can reflect the light in powerful ways if we choose to do so. Dragonflies are connected with water and Springtime, fertility, renewal; and is considered a messenger. The dragonfly is the symbol or resurrection in some Native American legends. Not back from the dead but more like onto the next life. To some Native Americans they are the souls of the dead. The Navajo believed that dragonflies were a symbol of renewal after a time of great hardship.

My dragonfly experience has stayed with me all day. It was magical. It was a small, personal miracle meant just for me. I don't know what it meant, if anything - maybe just to give me hope. Had it landed on someone else, they probably would have smashed it or stepped on it.

Sometimes, miracles happen when we are in distress. But, maybe sometimes we have to look for our miracles. Maybe sometimes we have to be open to miracles. And maybe sometimes we have to take the moments of happiness that we are given and realize that those seemingly small moments are miracles. Those are the kinds of miracles I believe in.