I Love Butterflies - A Dose of Encouragement

Where do I begin?


I cannot remember when I was not interested in something which had a butterfly on it.

Most people who know me well will be able to tell you that

 I love Butterflies.

I have Butterfly 

     necklaces,    rings,    scarves     &    brooches

 - not sure how many I have but because of these items many people know I love butterflies 


Over the years my family have bought me scarves, vases, bags and necklaces at Christmas time all decorated with butterflies.


Even the Ladies who came to the International Christian Club of Brussels knew I loved them as I was often found with a butterfly brooch pinned to my jacket.
When I was leaving Belgium to return to live in Northern Ireland I was given a lovely white lace Butterfly brooch from one of these ladies as leaving gift.

Isn't it beautiful?

My daughter even had a mug specially printed for me with butterflies on it for my Birthday one year and I featured it in a humorous blog post called 3 More Coffee Mugs

I have bought myself bags with butterfly designs, clothes with butterflies & room decorations with butterflies.

Then there was the time Fred and I spent a lovely afternoon in our home in Belgium taking pictures of the butterflies that were on a bush just outside our lounge window -  I was going to miss the Butterflies

It just makes me smile to see butterflies around the house and in our garden with our Buddleia (butterfly) bush here in Northern Ireland too and we manage to get some nice pictures of the bush in full bloom

 with butterflies around it each summer.

Why do I love Butterflies?

Because they are beautiful, intricately patterned, delicate creatures.

They are also a great reminder of new birth in that they start as caterpillars and turn into beautiful butterflies.

Just like I was once a person marred by my sin and through God's Love and the Grace of Jesus I was able to experience a new birth and share Christ's beauty.

I love to share about the butterfly in Kids Work that I would do to explain to the children that God offers them a new life in Jesus through His blood because of His Love for them.

Children hear that Jesus died on the cross but they need to know that He did this for them individually and that His beauty can become their beauty.  They need to know that he didn't stay dead but rose again and is still alive today so that they can know He talks to God about them and shares in all their feelings.

Children need to feel loved and secure above all else and Jesus wants them to accept His love and assurance that He will never leave them.

But you and I need to know exactly the same thing.

There is something very important that we all need to know.

You and I need to know we are loved and that we are safe and that there is a God planned future for us.

You and I need to experience this new birth and know that we can be beautiful in the eyes of our creator because of His Son.


There is one last Butterfly I would like to share with you today

This Butterfly sits on the Vanity Unit in our ensuite and I see it every day at the start of my day and the end of my day.


I believe in miracles.

Do you?


The Butterfly is an example of a miracle in that it changes from an ugly creature to a beautiful one.

Can you believe in Jesus and experience Him work this miracle in your life too?

The Easy Way to Prune The Buddleia (Butterfly) Tree - Organising the Garden

Do you have a Buddleia Tree in your Garden?

Have you ever seen a tall bush that has a very attractive purple flower that tapers to a point?

This is a Buddleia Tree or as many people have named it the Butterfly Tree because it attracts butterflies to nibble and devour those lovely purple flowers.

Let me say right from the start today that this job was not FUNWORK!

No definitely not.

Why?

Because I am not a keen gardener.

I ended up tired and with sore hands and arms.

Fred was also very tired.

However it was made EASIER because 

1.  we worked together on it 

2.  we had the right tools 

3.  we had the right plan for the job.

It all started when we realised that Fred was able to take some time off last weekend from the report he was writing and the weather was dry and not too cold.

So we went out together to the front garden to tackle the pruning of the Buddleia Tree or Butterfly Tree.

Right Tools

Fred got out the big tarpaulin type thing we have for bundling up the branches to go to the dump and then started into the tree.

Now the first year we had to do this we were inexperienced and did not have 2 pruning shears nor the tarpaulin but we learned from that experience and now we are properly equipped.

When I came out Fred had already started and was busy in behind the tree.

He had one side well started

and

a pile of branches were waiting for me to cut them up smaller and put them on the tarpaulin

and

so were a second pile.

Yes that is me with the pruning shears cutting branches to make them smaller to be more manageable for collecting up and going to the dump.

Fred was of course still busy cutting at that tree

and throwing out more & more branches toward me.

When I had got through those two original piles I called Fred out to do another job that is not so hard.




Right Plan

To jump up and down on the pile on the tarpaulin so that they didn't get too high.

Definitely think he enjoys that more than the pruning from the look on his face in the different pics.

Then the same process started all over again with the rest of the branches until we had them all cut and flattened and some of another bush added to the pile.

Of course a good workman will always clean up after himself.




More Right Tools

Next comes some more very important equipment for this job.

The Bungee cords (at least that's what we call them).

I love these things because they are so very useful inside and outside the house.

Continuing the Right Plan

The tarpaulin has metal eyelets at the corners and along the sides so Fred takes one of these elasticated Bungee cords and attaches it to one of the corners and then

stretches the cord out and attaches it to the opposite corner.

He repeats this in the same way for the other two corners and then

joins the opposite sides together to complete the bundle.

Now that really is a large bundle but with the 4 cords it is well held together ready for the journey in the boot of the car to the dump.

But

will it fit in the boot of our car?

That is what we said the first time as well and there was no problem but the car we had then was bigger.

However we still have no problem with this car as well as the boot is a good size

and with the back seats down the bundle goes in easily, and yes I do help him!

The Best Tool!

Well in my eyes the best tool for this type of job is the next thing Fred decided to buy because it made my job so much easier after the first couple of years.

I call it a wood shredder because it is just like a large paper shredder.

So much easier on my hands and arms and it is amazing how large a branch it will deal with.

It even took a branch this size

and can manage thick ones well.

The Last Good Tool

Then someone Fred met at the refuge centre (dump) very kindly gave him one of those large white bags and it is easier for us to empty straight from the shredder into the bag

And easier for Fred to get in and out of the car because of the handles.

Now here is the tree when the job is finished.

It is well pruned back as these trees have to be and you do not have to be extremely careful in the pruning and as an experienced gardener told us a few years ago "the more they are pruned back the better they will flower".

So basically it is a relatively easy gardening job to do because 

you do not have to be too careful how or where you cut 

as long as you do prune it well back 

and 

do it either in March or early April (Spring)

or October (Autumn)

So to make it easier learn from us and have

the right plan

the right tools 

and 

right company 

for the job.

Now we are wondering if again we were not stringent enough in our pruning but this is roughly the same as we did last year and we had a good result from that as you can see.

And the best test of all is how many butterflies it will attract.

We had more last year than the year before although they flittered around so much it was hard to get pictures of them.

Although this was a day of hard work for me (I'm not fit) when it comes to the Summer I will have many days of pleasure because of my beautiful Butterfly Tree.

If you have a Buddleia enjoy your butterflies.