His Time

When I was younger, I had this weird hobby. I was fond of collecting insects and arachnids (thanks to my Biology subject). These include some pitiful dragonflies, beetles, spiders and some species of butterflies (though I really do not know the exact order and class to which these insects belonged). If they catch my attention, I follow them and try to catch them with my bare hands. If they are swift enough to escape my fury, I use some sort of net to increase my field of attack. If they were still fast enough to get themselves away from me, I use brute force: get them dead or alive (Okay, please do not judge me for behaving that way, I was too young back then).

And alas, the poor insect would find themselves spending the rest of their lives inside a bottle, or a box, or any container that I could get. I was not merciless though, after some time, I give them pardon and release them depending on their condition (if they were about to die out of starvation or loneliness) or depending on the guilt that was harnessed within me.

Some of these mediocre animals did not let themselves be captured without fighting for their lives of course. Some of them bit me as hard as they can. Then I felt the sudden burst of my cells within me, my genes reaarranged themselves in some sort of alien-ish order, my senses became stronger, then I woke up (I was just daydreaming). Luckily they were not mutated, thus I was spared of finding my own costume as soon as I felt the mutation in my genes. I was spared of that difficulty in creating my own code name and tag line. Spiderman (of course it would be pirated), Tutubi Man (Eeker?), Beetle Boy, Butterflyhero (alright, this doesn't sound good at all), etc. Good thing I did not include flies and mosquitoes in my "to-capture" list. I cannot imagine myself wearing a mosquito or a fly costume.

One thing got my interest suddenly when I was on my search. I have noticed a cocoon hanging on a branch of a mango tree. I knew what was inside that cocoon, of course, though I did not know how it will look like as soon as it emerges from the pod. Out of my wild curiosity, I picked the cocoon and held it gently with my hands. I tried to open the pod to let the insect out. Though I was very careful on opening it, I was still not careful enough to avoid rupturing it. I succeeded in unwrapping the cocoon after a couple of minutes, but to my surprise, I failed to see the wings. They were not yet developed, I suppose. Sadness filled my heart, and regret started to build in my mind. I laid the lifeless corpse of the insect on the table. Its life was a pity; it was not able to spread its wings. I felt that I robbed from it the fulfillment of being a flying insect.

After that incident, I realized one good thing; we cannot force things to happen in our own time. Each has its own time line that it has to undergo, small and big things alike. There is a perfect time for everything. Things go odd if we try to make it happen as we wanted it to be. We should just let things be. Butterflies will emerge from their cocoons as soon as they are ready. Everything, all things will happen as God planned it to be.




There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.
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 be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

(Ecc 3:1-8)