Lightning Bugs and the Beauty of July

Across the Fence #554


Sometimes life boils down to simple pleasures, like watching lightning bugs (Fireflies to some people) as they light up our backyard. Observing them is like a simple, childlike experience, filled with curiosity. How can all those little bugs light up? As children we’d run after them, catch them, and put them into a Mason jar with air holes punched into the lid. After we had captured several and watched in wonder as they lit up the jar like a lantern, we released them so they could be free to fly again. Off they would go into the dark, but always letting us know where they were headed as they continued to light up and glow.

The warm, humid evenings of July are when lightning bugs love to become active. Many people don’t like the heat. I like it. I think we tend to over air-condition our lives. As a result, it feels so much hotter when we do venture outside. I’ve been some places where I have to go outside to warm up. 

Along with that, if you don’t go outside in July, you’re missing so much. You need to sit in the cool shade and listen to the wind in the trees. Watch and listen to the wind moving through tall grass along fence lines. Listen to the joyous sounds of all the birds. Watch butterflies darting among the flowers. Enjoy the evenings when the night comes alive with wonderful sights and sounds. Watch the fireflies put on their light show, lie back and gaze up at the star-filled sky, and let the crickets, frogs, and tree toad chorus serenade you. July evenings are something special.

Sometimes I think we all need to get back to the innocence and curiosity about the world around us that we had as children. We lose much of our wide-eyed wonder about the world as we grow older and more skeptical and cynical.

It's curiosity and wonder at the world around us that keeps the creative juices flowing. Without creativity we’re just a bunch of robots following the lead of those embedded in old thinking and ideas, and afraid to venture outside the safety of the box and try new things and embrace new ideas.

Watching lightning bugs is a good place to start. They remind me that I don't need to know how something works to enjoy the beauty and mystery of it. Again, it’s still the simple things in life that are the big things that make life magical. Those are the moments we don't want to miss. For me they become spiritual experiences.

If I could begin the calendar year, I’d never begin the year on January 1st. It’s often bitterly cold, the world is covered in a layer of white, and very few people or animals are active. Animals and birds with any sense, are either hibernating or have flown south for the winter. I’d start at the halfway point… I’d start with July. It’s a beautiful time of year. The world is alive with color and life. Trees and bushes are filled with leaves of every shade of green. I like to say 101 shades of green. Crops in the fields are growing. Corn is usually knee-high or more by the 4th of July. This is when the earth is alive, and it rubs off on all who inhabit the land. Who could venture along a tree-lined country road, where the ditches are filled with colorful wildflowers, and feel depressed?

But I’m also a realist and know that not everything about July is positive to everyone. I don’t care much for all the mosquitoes and pesky bugs either, especially the gnats. After the rain we’ve had lately, there should be no shortage of mosquitoes. On the positive side, the birds love them. The barn swallows have a field day as they swoop and dart about snatching the bugs out of the air as I walk through the grass stirring them up.

*