My daughter-in-law saw it on her back porch—a dust bunny walking, instead of blowing, along. She took a picture and let the internet identify it. "A junk bug." "A trash bug." "A garbage bug." "An aphid lion." And perhaps most colorful of all, "a masked hunter."
I was surprised to find that it is common everywhere. Surprised because I have never seen one and I am a native of Florida, the land of bugs. The junk bug is actually the larva of the green lacewing, considered to be a beneficial insect because, like ladybugs, it eats many garden pests, especially aphids, hence the name "aphid lion." It is a voracious predator, stabbing soft-bodied prey with sharp hollow horns and sucking their insides out. Besides in your garden, you are most likely to see a lacewing around your porch light at night.
But the lacewing larvae have a unique trait. They carry on their backs the carcasses of their dead prey, which acts as camouflage against birds and predatory ants. Check the pictures online. The camouflage works well indeed.
But don't we act like these bugs ourselves? We go through life picking up baggage, piece after piece, until we are weighed down with it, practically unable to move. At least the bug doesn't go that far. God has given us a place for all that luggage and it is not on our backs. Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you…(Ps 55:22). None of the things we carry with us help us live our lives. None of them is necessary for survival. Only God fills that role. Give him the junk on your back and you might be surprised at what you can accomplish. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, Even the God who is our salvation. (Ps 68:19). We don't even have to worry about our salvation—He takes care of that too.
Or do we cling to it as an excuse for our lack of motivation, for getting nothing done for the Lord because we have all this excess baggage from our lives? That can happen as well, hanging on to the burdens of life like a security blanket because it's all we know. Well, it's time to unload. Whatever burden you carry with you today, drop it off at the door as you go out to live your life. God considers our failure to do so as evidence that we don't trust Him, and as arrogance that we don't need Him. Show Him otherwise this morning.
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act (Ps 37:5).
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you (1Pet 5:6-7).
Dene Ward
I was surprised to find that it is common everywhere. Surprised because I have never seen one and I am a native of Florida, the land of bugs. The junk bug is actually the larva of the green lacewing, considered to be a beneficial insect because, like ladybugs, it eats many garden pests, especially aphids, hence the name "aphid lion." It is a voracious predator, stabbing soft-bodied prey with sharp hollow horns and sucking their insides out. Besides in your garden, you are most likely to see a lacewing around your porch light at night.
But the lacewing larvae have a unique trait. They carry on their backs the carcasses of their dead prey, which acts as camouflage against birds and predatory ants. Check the pictures online. The camouflage works well indeed.
But don't we act like these bugs ourselves? We go through life picking up baggage, piece after piece, until we are weighed down with it, practically unable to move. At least the bug doesn't go that far. God has given us a place for all that luggage and it is not on our backs. Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you…(Ps 55:22). None of the things we carry with us help us live our lives. None of them is necessary for survival. Only God fills that role. Give him the junk on your back and you might be surprised at what you can accomplish. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, Even the God who is our salvation. (Ps 68:19). We don't even have to worry about our salvation—He takes care of that too.
Or do we cling to it as an excuse for our lack of motivation, for getting nothing done for the Lord because we have all this excess baggage from our lives? That can happen as well, hanging on to the burdens of life like a security blanket because it's all we know. Well, it's time to unload. Whatever burden you carry with you today, drop it off at the door as you go out to live your life. God considers our failure to do so as evidence that we don't trust Him, and as arrogance that we don't need Him. Show Him otherwise this morning.
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act (Ps 37:5).
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you (1Pet 5:6-7).
Dene Ward
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