As I watched a butterfly flit around the gardens, I wondered how many different types of butterflies share the earth with us. Thanks to the Google machine, I have an answer: there are between 12,000 and 15,000 different species of butterflies and moths. Amazing! Of course, as long as I was searching… there are 10,000 species of birds that we know of, and scientists think there may be as many as 18,000. Here’s more: there are at least two million species of insects – maybe as many as ten million. Who knows? We keep discovering more!
Biologists have identified over 250,000 different species of plants and animals living in the oceans, and believe there are another 500,000 species yet to be identified.
Obviously, God has a preference for diversity. There is absolutely no evidence on earth to suggest God is interested in sameness. None. Zero. Creation is quite the opposite, actually. But God does seem to be interested in ecosystems where all varieties of life prosper and thrive in an amazing network of collaboration and symbiosis. Now, I’m not going to pretend to know the mind of God, but simple observation would suggest a plan for creation in which diversity lives in harmony. Such is indeed the nature of things.
Perhaps we could learn something from this earth we are called to steward?
Journey well and pray always.