Beauty of the Natural World

GREEN-VEINED WHITE BUTTERFLY

My piece last week about Dolly Parton and the reference to her love of butterflies, prompted my friend Gill Henwood to send me photos of a Green-Veined White Butterfly taken in the Lake District.

The green-veined white is quite a common butterfly (though I have never seen it!). Its habitat is hedgerows, woodlands, garden and parks as well as river areas and damp meadows. It can be seen from Spring to October.

In Gill’s photos, it is taking its ease on sedum plants which are currently turning from their summer green to autumn pink/purple.
The Butterfly takes its name from the prominent green stripes on the underside of its wings. One description I read about this is: The so-called green veins on the underside of the adults are, in fact, an illusion created by a subtle combination of yellow and black scales.”
A comment made from folklore is that if you see a white butterfly at the beginning of summer, it will be rainy. If, however, you see a green-veined white butterfly it is a sign that there is hope for a little sunshine!
a different and more spiritual lore is that “the graceful, darting flight of the green-veined white represents seasonal re-birth, fragility and the clean beauty of the natural world.”

This thought makes the green-veined white is a suitable symbol of Creation on a week-end which includes a new ecumenical festival adopted by the Church of England as it joins churches across the globe in celebrating the new Festival of Creation in Christ, marking the worldwide Christian consensus that the Earth should be treasured and protected as a gift from God.

Lord of creation,
You have created the universe by your eternal Word,
and have blessed humankind in making us
stewards of the earth;
We pray for your world,
that we may share and conserve its resources,
and live in reverence for the creation
and in harmony with one another.
In your mercy, hear us.

[Mr G & Gill Henwood. 5th September 2026]

Love is like a butterfly ~ Dolly’s symbol

“I just loved them because they were colourful and gentle,
and I just kind of related to them with my own personality.
I don’t want to hurt anybody. Didn’t want to bite. Didn’t want to sting, and I still don’t.
I just kind of claimed them as my little symbol.” ~Dolly Parton~

Love is like a butterfly,
as soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicoloured moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside, it flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing (Dolly)

Peacock butterfly … Breathtaking

A beautiful sunny afternoon in heaven.
God rested, stretched, relaxed;
but the creator of everything cannot be still.
An idea formed;
a longing to make something beautiful.
When you are full of love it is no chore to create.

He would paint,
brushing into life something stunning,
Breathtaking!

His canvas invitingly empty.
God dipped the brush of his imagination,
stretched out his hand.
Intricate sparkling colours
flowed from his fingers.
What figment of his palette
did He conjure up?
Slow formation of something crazy.

He fashioned me, a butterfly
adorned with Peacock colours.
I am painted with the eye of God,
a reflection of His love for making.
Crafted by God,
every act of creativity births new loveliness
into the world

God blew on my wings.

Breath giving
Breathtaking
I fly.

[Mr G. ammended August 30th 2026]

In Praise of Hogweed

*Hogweed in Grizedale, English Lake District; photographed by Gill Henwood*

Colours, textures, patterns: the slow but steady miracle of flowers unfurling on the forest verge, Grizedale. Even the young leaves bright green are delicate unfolding in the light.

Hogweed is the common name for this native plant in the carrot family, not toxic like the non-native giant hogweed. The Wildlife Trust tells us: “The hollow stems of hogweed were traditionally used in many children’s games as water guns, pea-shooters and swords.” Clearly, it’s been around since the days of foraging hogs (possibly for its root as it’s related to the carrot family), and sword play.

Attracting many insects, hogweed spreads its many seeds but can be welcomed into wild gardens by cutting off the seedheads before they scatter. However, on a winter frosty morning, any standing dried seedheads are glorious, sparkling architectural wonders.

When is a wild plant and flower a weed? Beauty, scent, nectar, and hollow stems for hibernation, all offer a different perspective. Hogs knew better, for they tasted delicious.

“Praise Him, all creatures here below”

[Gill Henwood]

From a doxology on the Holy Trinity, by Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1710)
It is sometimes linked with St Francis of Assisi and his canticle of the Creatures.
This is the full doxology

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

P.S. There will be a short break before the next Blog entry, after a short holiday. {Mr G}

Transfiguring Love

The Transfiguration of Christ, Icon written by Sr Irène-Marie of la communaute
des soeurs du Bec-Hellouin. There are two Icons, one at the Parish Church of
St John the Baptist, Epping and a similar Icon in the personal care of Mr G.

Transfiguring Love, reflections on the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6, 2026 by Mr G.

In the Transfiguration (see Luke 9: 28-36) God gives us a snapshot of human glory – Christ transformed and it is as if God is telling us that this is what we can become if we follow his way of doing things.

What follows the Transfiguration is the journey to Jerusalem by Jesus and his companions leading to the death of our Lord Jesus on the Cross. There, Jesus absorbed all human pain, conflict and hurt as he became the instrument of our transfiguration. He absorbed human sin and nailed it to the Cross and he did so out of sheer love for humanity. What transforms the Cross is love because the Crucifixion is God’s ultimate statement of His love for us. “You can do this to me,” his actions say, “and yet I will go on loving and you cannot stop me for it is only love that transforms humanity and changes our destiny.”

I once heard a story of a young Russian priest who was arrested when communism took over his country. For years he was held in a prison camp and there he was beaten and tortured. When he was eventually released his friends asked him what was left of him.
‘Nothing’ he said, ‘they have taken everything away. Only Love remains.”

That priest had discovered the one thing that changes every human situation and disarms every human conflict – sacrificial self-giving love. The Cross which Jesus took upon himself is the action by which all of us can be changed – and when we are changed, the world is changed. Only Love remains – only love will conquer the human heart. Only love will Transfigure the world. Perhaps we are unable to see that as a possibility in conflicts throughout our world – in Ukraine and Russia, in the Sudan, In the Middle East, in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, in Gaza where the people are living without hope. So many conflicts, so much hatred; all we can hope is that the world will come to its senses before it is too late.

But there is one area where we can see this glory of Transfiguration and that is in our own lives and in our own dealings with others. Wars do not begin on foreign battlefields far from home. They begin in our hearts – when we refuse to allow others dignity or understanding. When we want what we want, come what may and when we believe our own views to be the only right views – a sure way to begin oppression of others.

That is not God’s Way. As Mother Mary Clare of the Sisters of the Love of God once put it so clearly, God’s way is to call us to stand at the place of the Cross – at that intersection where human pain, hurt and conflict meet and are held by the transforming love of God. This is where Love will always remain and we are invited to become it with Jesus.

It is only when we stand in this place where God in Jesus Christ always is – the place of transforming love – that we will begin to see the glory in each other. That is a wonderful message of the Transfiguration. If we do not grasp it then not only will we ill treat others, we will also diminish ourselves – and, more importantly, we will be in danger of denying God.

[Mr G]