Finding Providence In a Caterpillar

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. (Matthew 10:29)

It had been nearly two years since my husband and I had been able to take a vacation to our favorite spot in Western Michigan. Over the past twenty years, we typically would go four or five weekends over the summer and fall. With COVID restrictions, however, we had not been able to travel there for many months. The restaurants we liked were not open, the beaches were severely limited, and many of our favorite sites were closed. Finally, last month, with great anticipation, we were able to go.

We chose our favorite restaurant for our first night and were not surprised that we would have to wait over an hour to get seated. We walked around the nearby park by the lake for nearly 30 minutes and then sat at a nearby picnic table. It was wonderful just to watch people out on the water or ambling through the park freely.  Soon, the setting sun shone a bit too warmly on us, and we spotted another table nearby that was in the shade. The park was now nearly empty. We moved over to the table in the cooler spot and checked the time. It was almost time, and perhaps we needed to start back toward the restaurant. We noticed a hotel card that someone had left behind on the table as we prepared to move on.

Suddenly a fuzzy yellow caterpillar appeared on the table, crawling directly toward us. “Where did you come from?” my husband asked the brightly-hued critter. “It must have just fallen from one of the trees.”  This caterpillar would become a beautiful butterfly. Gently, I used the hotel card to scoop up the caterpillar, and we slowly walked over to a nearby tree. When the caterpillar felt the leaves, it quickly left the card for its new green home. We smiled as we watched it waddle away.

We walked quietly to the restaurant. We were both thinking the same thought.

After twenty months, many more days, and innumerable hours, we finally returned to a place where, because the restaurant was busy, we took a walk through a park by some empty picnic tables where, because of the angle of the sun, we moved at the last minute to a particular table on which a hotel key had been left, to find a caterpillar in need of a bit of help. We both felt humbled and amazed to be a tiny part of God’s vast and masterful plan.

“Even all the hairs of your head are counted,” Jesus said. And each fuzzy little yellow caterpillar in Michigan as well.