It’s the time of year for tomato worms. Recently a friend brought some over knowing how much my oldest son likes this kind of thing. He was away on a trip so I tried to keep them alive until he got home.

They ate voraciously the first few days then changed from bright green to a darker brownish-green. They also stopped eating and eventually, all died. I failed. But why? I could hardly perform an autopsy on them to figure it out.

My friend brought one more tomato worm to us, knowing the fate of the first set. By this time my son was home so he got to see this one and marvel at it. We fed it and soon it too changed color and stopped eating. Uh oh, is this one going to die too?

Luckily my husband did some research online (why didn’t I think of that?). Evidently, these caterpillars need to dig as part of their life cycle, so dirt went into the container and the caterpillar happily dug in circles around the container. A few days later it shed its skin and became a chrysalis on top of the dirt.

I don’t know why they need to dig to pupate, but that is part of their life cycle.

The first set of caterpillars were unable to dig and perform that part of their life cycle. They died because they couldn’t do what they were designed to do.

Are we like that? If we don’t fulfill our God-given purpose in life do we die spiritually? The tomato worm needs certain conditions to fulfill its life cycle. If that cycle is interrupted, it dies.

Are you fulfilling God’s will in your life? Do you have an unfulfilled dream?

For me, to write is to live, hence this blog. By writing this blog and other things, I fulfill God’s will for my life.

God designed tomato worms to do certain things to complete their life cycle. What works for the tomato worm doesn’t work for the monarch or swallowtail or any other caterpillar. They all have different requirements to fulfill their life cycles. Similarly, we also have different requirements to fulfill God’s will in our life. What does that look like for you?

If you have no idea, think about what brings you joy and start there.

What brings you joy and life? Leave a comment.