Community Matters Aberdeen Village
September 2015
Chaplain’s message:
Stand, stare & wonder One of the most tragic features of life is the loss of wonder. As we grow older, we begin to live in a world that The Rev. Dr. has grown gray Larry Thornton and commonplace. But the change is not in the world, it is in ourselves. Somehow, we must keep the sense of wonder alive, but so many of us are living a life in which there is no time to contemplate how great and how big God is! As a poet expressed it, “What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?” The more we know about our astonishing world and universe the more we are bound to wonder…to stand and stare. Did you know? • There are more stars in space than there are grains of sand on every beach on Earth. • A Blue Whale’s heart is so big, a small child can swim through the veins.
Residents collaborate to help Monarch butterflies Everyone loves the Monarch—a beautiful orange and black butterfly that performs one of the most astounding migrations of any insect. After spending winter in the mountains of central Mexico, the butterflies head for the Gulf Coast in March. Here they breed, leaving their offspring to migrate north as summer progresses, producing several generations along the way.
• There’s enough water in Lake Superior to cover all of North and South America in one foot of water.
The individuals flying south in the fall find their way unerringly to a place they have never seen! But Monarchs are in trouble—their populations have declined by 90 percent over the past two decades. Much of the decrease is due to loss of habitat, especially the native milkweed plants that feed their caterpillars.
CHAPLAIN, continued on page 2
MONARCH, continued on page 3
CEO, continued on page 4
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