Page 30 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 2 2025

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

DEAD AND ALIVE

B Y PETER S T OFFBERG

e love mystery. Many of us, like doctors,
scientists, and engineers are pursuing
Wcareers of uncovering the unknown.
Whatever your profession, though, you probably
experience the restlessness of being unable to bring
your brain to peace because it’s engaged in some sort of
problem-solving.

Metamorphosis, the process through which a worm
becomes a butterfly, is one problem that has kept many
minds in this kind of restlessness. For ages, we’ve
struggled to understand what actually takes place, and
why.
Early theories held that the creature (the worm) died
and that a second, completely different creature (the
butterfly) was born. Others proposed that a crawling
creature (the worm) accidentally mated with a flying
creature (the butterfly) and that the resultant offspring
was a bit of both! That might sound rather fictitious, but
the truth, as they say, is even stranger.
Worms spend their lives eating, so much so that they
can grow to over 3000 times their birth weight in just a
few weeks. Special sensors measure the tension of their
skin and when the pressure gets too much, they either
moult (change into a larger skin) or pupate (build a safe
protective shell around themselves). ON SITE SUNDAY SERVICES @ 9h30
www.familychurch.online
Once in this pupa stage, special enzymes are released
into the body that selectively dissolve most of what DAINFERN COLLEGE AUDITORIUM
once made up the chubby worm. A few things, like
the breathing apparatus, are spared the liquidisation
process and begin to change. Other special cells begin organs, none of which existed in the worm. But here’s
to grow and develop into completely new organs. All of where it gets really incredible. Their memories are
this is fuelled by the liquidised remains of the worm (the retained!
ultimate in recycling).
Scientists conditioned worms (through gentle electric
In less than two weeks the miracle is complete, and a shock) to associate certain smells with danger. The adult
beautiful butterfly emerges with compound eyes, nectar- butterflies, incredibly, retained this association after
feeding mouth parts, wings, legs and even reproductive metamorphosis, and fled from the smell that used to
accompany the electric shock in their caterpillar days.
In metamorphosis, God has provided a wonderful
illustration of what Jesus Christ does in the lives of
believers. When we trust in the Son of God, in His life,
death and resurrection, we die to our old way of life and
are raised into a brilliant new existence.

If we ever feel that our lives are pointless, about
nothing more than survival, we should remember
metamorphosis. Every life entrusted to God can display
wonder and purpose beyond our wildest imaginations!

28 DPL issue 2 2025