Story of Beauty: The Jewel Scarab and the Beauty Within

Many people find beetles and bugs somewhat creepy, but if there’s one beetle in the world that could turn you into a beetle lover – the jewel scarab.

Jewel scarabs live in the jungles of Honduras and have the shape of your regular Christmas beetle. But their colours are so dazzling and beautiful that they can sell for up to $500 a beetle. Beautiful flaming reds, bright golds, silvers that resemble bright, shiny chrome. Even the beetle hater finds jewel scarabs dazzling and beautiful!

But the jewel scarab’s beauty doesn’t come automatically. Every scarab has modest, even ugly beginnings. The scarab starts life as a soft, mushy, grey-white grub growing inside a rotting tree stump. They spend their life like this for around a year, until finally, when the rainy season arrives, the adult scarabs emerge soft-bodied and pale. The within hours, their bodies harden and their splendid colours show. They only live for another three months, but what a glorious existence it is.

People are just like scarabs. We may not feel terribly beautiful and attractive.

In fact, there may be parts of you that feel distinctly ugly – and I’m not talking just about your body, but about your spirit, your mind, your thought life, your character. But it’s the work of the Spirit of God to make us beautiful. It may seem to take a lifetime, but as the Spirit works on us, we will emerge as beautiful, dazzling, shining creatures gloriously bearing the image of our Creator.

Source: Scientific information from National Geographic Magazine, Feb 2001, Issue.

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