September 8, 2015 (Tuesday)
A little frog has made its home at our house for weeks. The other day just before a clap of thunder and a downpour of rain, he began croaking very loudly. Frogs croak to attract mates. The croak more when it rains because their eggs need to be laid in water, so that their offspring can survive as tadpoles, which are swimming creatures.
Birds sing beautiful songs, but not for our pleasure or entertainment. They do it to attract mates.
Fireflies flash their lights and light up the night. They do not do it to create light for us. They do it to attract mates.
They need mates in order to propagate their species. That’s important. If all species stopped production of new life, they would no longer exist.
God said to the first man and woman, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Our human species, like all others, spend much of their time obeying this command. We find mates. We have children. In due time, the children grow up and continue the cycle.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, population of the country was 31,000,000. Today it is more like 350,000,000. Population of the world is now around 7 billion. In 30 years, according to those who study such things, the number will grow to 9 billion. That’s almost 30% growth in one generation. If a 30% rate of growth prevails in the future, counting 30 years as a generation, the population will grow: 2045, 9 billion; 2075, 11.7 billion, 2105, 15.2 billion… (Calculations are mine, not based on authority of any kind).
Seems that we probably should begin to think of some way to avoid this situation in the future.
Sad to say, the history of the world shows that a great disaster of some kind has been responsible for reducing the numbers of any given species, including humans. Let us pray that humanity can avoid that option. In the meantime, when we hear the frogs croaking and the bird singing, and watch the fireflies flashing, let these things remind us of this little blog, and urge us to pray for our world.