Monarch butterflies are of one of God's most delicate and durable creatures. Every October they begin their journey from the U.S. and Canada, arriving in Mexico around the beginning of November, sometimes after flying 3,000 miles and up to 265 miles per day. Monarchs use the earth's magnetic field to guide their travels, but how the migration route stays in their collective memory remains a scientific mystery. These creatures also serve a useful purpose. Like bees, butterflies pollinate a variety of useful plants for an entire ecosystem. One scientist warned, "If we pull the monarchs out of the system, we're really pulling the rug out from under a lot of other species."

Over the past two decades 2000-2020) monarchs have declined by 90% The long-term survival of the species may be in doubt. The causes for the monarchs' decline are complex, but human lifestyle choices are behind most of the decline. Illegal logging in Mexico has reduced the monarchs' winter habitat to a vanishingly small area. "Ecotourists" spend thousands of dollars to gape at the monarchs in Mexico, but in the process they disturb and hurt the creatures they've come to see. And farmers across America have used the herbicide glyphosate to decimate milkweed plants, the monarchs' essential food.

The article in The New York Times concluded by pointing to what it called "the dilemma of human behavior." This dilemma runs much deeper than just damaging a butterfly species. It also applies to the cost of sin in general. As the article puts it, "We live in a world of unintended consequences of our own making, which can never be easily undone."

Possible Preaching Angles: Consequences; Sowing and Reaping; Sin, destructive—This is one small example from nature of a larger spiritual reality: our actions—or more specifically, our sins—can cause more damage than we ever intended. Certainly, in the spiritual realm, Christ forgives the penalty of our sin, but our "private" or "personal" sins usually have much larger public consequences "which can never easily be undone."