Kaleidoscope

A Kaleidoscope

A kaleidoscope generates a series of symmetrical patterns, by using reflection, and when the tube is turned the objects appear to align themselves into a different pattern. As the tube is rotated, the tumbling of coloured objects, present the viewer with colourful patterns.

As I look out onto the farm where I live, I am struck by the symbiotic relationship between the natural world and the weather, and also the process whereby, those patterns and relationships change.

A farmer growing crops can defy nature these days, with the use of agro-chemicals, such as fertilisers, growth enhancers, weed killers and pest control: he can grow crops in optimum conditions. This effectively, extends the growing seasons, time wise, so that the effects of wet and dry climate changes can be minimised, as can the pests and moulds, which could normally threaten such a crop.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 4-6

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away.

Here's the mystery ... How then do migratory birds change their feeding patterns and locations to fit into the falsely engineered pattern of growth that Man has created? For several consecutive autumns, hundreds of lapwings, normally coastal birds, have descended onto the fields, foraging for insects and worms, on land that had been ploughed; land that is 70 miles inland from any sea shore. After three years, they disappeared and were not seen again.



This recent, hot, spring weather, has brought on the crops much earlier. The rapeseed, already in pod in April, a month early, has also brought in the pollen beetles, and numerous other flying insects, attracted by the fluorescent yellow colour of the flower  heads; these in turn, much earlier than usual. Then I noticed house martins, who feed on flying insects, had arrived extremely early, in effect, in Spring rather than Summer. This is more remarkable, when you consider that the house martins fly to Britain from Africa. They not only use the earth's magnetic fields to navigate, but apparently, may also have some sensitivity, to the high pressure that causes hot weather; this may then stir the birds to fly much sooner. 

It reminds me of a kaleidoscope, where with just a turn of the barrel, the whole configuration of shapes, line up into a new pattern. In nature, it's as though, when Man creates artificial conditions, ie turns the barrel slightly, then plants, insects and animals realign themselves into a new pattern as long as is necessary.

Mark 4:37

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him "Teacher, don't you care if we drown." he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 

In the grand scheme of things, it makes our day to day concerns smaller. If God sees the whole earth from a higher perspective, and how all the patterns interrelate, surely He can show us the way to live. Time spent with Him will resonate in the realms of heaven. Facing a situation where you see no way out, give it to Jesus in prayer. We know that when he lived on earth, even the wind and the waves obeyed him.