Eastern monarch butterflies are known to make a two-way migration. After the latest generation overwinters in the branches of oyamel fir trees in the mountains of central Mexico, they head to North America. Each butterfly will travel alone to complete his or her portion of the journey. At the first stop in the migration, the females lay eggs on milkweed plants. This first generation then dies.
The next generation is born and continues the migration. They fly a few hundred miles; the females lay eggs (again on milkweed), then these butterflies also die. It can take four or five generations to complete this migration that eventually reaches Canada! Each of the butterflies in this portion of the migration live only five to seven weeks.
When temperatures become cooler in North America as winter approaches, monarchs are ready to begin the journey back to Mexico. A “super generation” of butterflies are hatched. Each individual butterfly will make the trip all the way back to Mexico – a distance of 3,000 miles! This generation can live up to eight months and are the butterflies that overwinter in a few mountains of central Mexico, there to blanket trees in beautiful shades of red and orange. Monarchs join together by the tens of thousands, and they are then able to rest from their journey.
Like monarch butterflies, we rely on the generations before and after we live on Earth to help our family to reach our shared destination. As God’s children, this means eternal life with our Heavenly Parents, with Jesus Christ our Savior, and with our loved ones.
Each individual person, like each monarch butterfly in migration, is important for the success of our “migration”. We are individuals, yet we are all part of something bigger. While we have our own necessary stories, we also have a more far-reaching, miraculous tale. This involves the entirety of our family history, our present family, and our future family. We are all connected. We are linked together in love, in works, in spirit, and hopefully, through sacred ordinances performed in God’s holy temples.
Those of us who are blessed to have the gospel of Jesus Christ and have access to temples are the super generation. Not because we are greater than our ancestors in any way, but because we have a greater responsibility to our ancestors and to those who come after us. We have the sacred duty to continue the work that will lead our ancestors home, and to lead the future generation home.
When we do the ordinance work in temples for our deceased family members, we are helping to link our generations together in works of love through the power of God. When we teach our children and grandchildren about God’s Plan of Salvation – His Plan of Happiness – we are sharing a remarkable gift that can unite us for all eternity. We can share our testimonies in word and through good works, while sharing the love we feel for one another. It will then be up to the next generation to continue the “migration” back to the presence of God.
We have temples for sacred ordinances. We have the internet, family history centers, and our own families to help us discover our records. We have the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ to share! We are blessed in our generation with what we need to help gather Israel on both sides of the veil.
We have a loving Heavenly Father. He gave us His glorious plan, which is the only way to eternal joy with those we love. We are blessed to have the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our day, and forever blessed to have the opportunity to be with the ones we love for all eternity.
For more information about family history work and to get started, follow these thinks:
- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2003/08/your-family-history-getting-started?lang=eng
- https://www.familysearch.org/
For more information about monarch butterflies, explore these sites:
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