Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“‘All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be regarded as unclean by you. There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper. But all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as unclean.

• Leviticus 11:20-23

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.

• Exodus 8:16-17

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.
“‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”
And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.

• Exodus 8:20-24

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.

• Exodus 10:3-5

As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
    so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

• Ecclesiastes 10:1

And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.

• Revelation 9:3-7

The New Boilerplate

My wife filled a small book with “Angel” on the cover.  It was hidden with a box of crafting things.  On 18 July 2025, I thought I had posted the last of these.  But this little angel book held a prayer, followed by 71 quotes.  So, the “with a little help” series is back in business for a while.  And it will be fun for me.  She did not attribute any of the quotes.  The first quote was from James A. Garfield, the 20^th president of the USA.  The next one was disputed, with some thinking it originated with Teddy Roosevelt and others saying Fred Astaire.  After the prayer, these might be on the lighter side.

Her quote

“The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.”

• Rabindranath Tagore

“Butterflies count not months but moments, and yet has time enough.”

• My wife’s slight modification

The Discussion

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a Bengali poet, philosopher, and polymath.  The polymath (expert in a wide range of subjects) were mostly focused in the arts: painter, author, playwright, musician, and composer.  He worked for social reform also.

As for the Scriptures, there are no references to butterflies in the Bible.  So, I looked for flying insects.  I suppose that you should not eat a butterfly, but who would want to?  Notice how the insects got bigger in the three plagues of Egypt that are insect related.  The scarab was worshipped in Egypt.  And the gnat plague was the first plague that the wizards of Pharoah could not duplicate.

And as for the Revelation 9 passage, it reminds me of attack helicopters.  They were locusts with stingers like scorpions.  And they selectively chose people who did not have God’s mark on them.

But back to the butterfly.  I saw a special episode of Origins on the Cornerstone Television Network.  It is about 26 minutes in length.

While the butterfly counts only a moment, the caterpillar that becomes a butterfly is here only for a moment.  And the caterpillar dies for the butterfly to be formed.

And are Christians not a lot like a caterpillar?  We die in the flesh so that we can be transformed into a wonderful, beautiful creature that will live in a perfect world forever.

And that, my friends, is living enough.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory