Letters from Uncle Roger: About caterpillars

Dear Aisha, Brioni and Calista,

This is another letter from your Uncle Roger. I hope you liked my last two letters. Do you remember me saying that I found some caterpillars eating my fresh spinach? Well, I have been thinking about caterpillars lately and I want to write my letter to you this time about caterpillars. They are interesting little creatures and there is a wonderful mystery about caterpillars; - when they are ready, at the right time, they turn into butterflies! - Perhaps you know this already, but when you see a pretty butterfly in the garden, you can be quite certain that it started out its life as a caterpillar.

Caterpillars are always hungry! - Every day, all day long they eat and eat; they never seem to be satisfied, they just keep eating. They start out very small and tiny when they hatch out from a little egg that was laid by the butterfly. The butterfly always finds the right kind of leaves which the caterpillars like to eat best, and as soon as the caterpillar hatches out from its egg, it starts eating and eating. Some people think that caterpillars are a pest, because they eat the leaves of the plants growing in the garden; but they are part of the creation which God has made and they have their purpose in life which God intended. Lots of birds like to eat caterpillars, so they provide food for the birds.

Now as the caterpillar grows bigger and bigger, and keeps eating more and more, at the right time the caterpillar stops eating and starts to rest, and this is when the great mystery starts; this is when the caterpillar starts to turn into a butterfly. First, after the caterpillar stops eating it finds a quiet safe place to wait while the change takes place.

It's like a miracle; how can a caterpillar change into a butterfly? - Well, it's quite true.

It takes quite a long time, but the caterpillar has nothing else to do but wait. It's finished eating now and it goes to sleep and forms a - CHRYSALIS. - I've sent you a photo of a chrysalis which shows the caterpillar sleeping and starting to change into a butterfly. When it wakes up in several weeks time, it comes out of its sleep and the change has happened; - the caterpillar is a butterfly! - Soon it starts to fly and goes looking for flowers. Most butterflies are very pretty and have different colours, so I've sent you some pictures of different kinds of butterflies, and also, some of caterpillars. It's a wonderful story, and a true story too.

Now I have a question for you: - Why does the caterpillar stop eating?

Since the caterpillar first hatched from its egg, it has been eating and eating, but at the right time, the caterpillar stops eating. - Why do you think the caterpillar stops eating?

You may say, - well, the caterpillar is full and doesn't feel hungry any more.

That sounds like a good answer to my question, but it's not quite the right answer.

The answer to the question: - Why does the caterpillar stop eating? - is that God has told the first caterpillar how to behave correctly as a caterpillar; what to eat and when to stop eating and although all caterpillars have forgotten what God first told them, a distant memory from long, long ago still remains in the caterpillar.

The caterpillar does everything which God first told them without thinking about it or trying to remember, we call this distant memory from long, long ago: -- INSTINCT –- it means the caterpillar does what God intended without thinking about it. The caterpillar doesn't have to remember because it does what God intended caterpillars to do without remembering what God has said.

So at the right time; at the time God intended, - the caterpillar just stops eating.

It doesn't have to think about it; it doesn't even have to remember what God told the first caterpillar long, long ago; - it just stops eating at the right time by – INSTINCT.

Do you like my story about caterpillars?

I hope you like the pictures I sent of butterflies and caterpillars and one of a chrysalis.

Every time you see a butterfly in the garden, you can remember the way it started life as a caterpillar. - Why do you think God created caterpillars and butterflies?

Well, they help to make the world beautiful and interesting. I'm quite sure that God knew little boys and girls would find caterpillars very interesting.