Thinking About Majesty
Friend, take your mind off your problems. There were new ones today weren’t there? Some of the old ones are still there too. Stop thinking about your problems.
Think about majesty instead. Majesty brings problems into perspective.
Majesty…you know…
Magnificence.
Splendor.
Grandeur and marvelousness…
Finally, include brilliance.
Now look at majesty…this majesty came from a little afternoon walk in winter.
Sunlight on ice. That’s right, sunlight-on ice.
Ice is majestic;
Sunlight?
Right again- majestic.
Together they are magnificent.
Next, a winter flower.
This is Stiff Golden Rod. White tinged with light brown tabs is majestic. It is winter grandeur.
These Stiff Golden Rod seeds stick on the seed head until something bumps them. Red Poll birds like them.
Last, the Golden Rod Gall. Wait, you disagree?
No majesty here you say.
Why does the gall grow round?
Majesty is inside… invisible majesty…there is a worm inside this plant gall. Worms can be majestic. Read on…
The Golden Rod Gall fly larva is in its winter home. It’s in there. It’s a small package, just ¼ inch long.
It won’t come out until spring…unless a Downy Woodpecker removes it. Then it’s bird lunch. See the holes in the photo? A Downy found that larva. Woodpecker bills don’t only make holes in wood.
The bird is gone…but evidence of its visit is seen in the holed drilled in the galls.
Let alone, the Gall fly larva will spend the winter…in a Golden Rod plant gall. Insulated from wind, snow, you know winter. There’s one more majesty…it does not freeze. Insects and their larva living in climates with freezing winter temperatures have a built-in antifreeze protein.
Inside that little Golden Rod gall, the Gall Fly Larva will be the same temperature as the outside air. It won’t freeze. Have you guessed it? Antifreeze protein in insects is majesty.
Plant galls are majesty…how does the plant form a gall around the larva? Majestic.
Look for majesty, find it outside. Problems seem less significant when put alongside majesty.
Where does majesty come from? We’ll let King David have the last word;