Consider the Lilies
Imagine Jesus, the great creator of the heavens and the earth, in a field of lilies somewhere near the Sea of Galilee. Aware of the hopes and fears of the great multitude before him, he begins to speak:
“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so cloths the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he cloth you, O you of little faith!” (Luke 12:25-27)
So, let’s consider the lilies.
Vicky (White Flower)
Although there are thousands of varieties of lilies on our planet, I want to focus on a genus called Victoria amazonica, better known by its common name, Giant Amazon Water Lily. Jesus taught the crowd that it was God who took care of the lilies. He didn’t present a scientific explanation on how the lilies somehow naturally evolved and then took care of themselves; he gave all the credit to God.
This story will amaze you. As it unfolds, you will ponder how anyone could posit a natural, evolution-based origin, at least, for lilies. Everything seems to point to a Mind (we know as God), who steps into his creation when he chooses, invoking his process of what some label Intelligent Design. And, this story isn’t just about the Amazon Water Lily; we will see how the Creator combined two kingdoms, plant and animal, working together in complete dependence on one another, and in perfect synergy. This tale is a life-cycle, so let’s break in on it at the bottom of the Amazon River deep inside the South American rain forest.
Picture a seed of Victoria amazonica, buried deep in the mud of an Amazon River backwater 30 feet beneath the surface; the seed has been dormant for four years and is now ready to make a grand appearance. The mud is rich in nutrients, but lacks one very important ingredient, oxygen. For this seed to become a plant and produce future water lilies, it sprouts a stem that must dash upward 30 feet to the surface where it will encounter plenty of plant food, carbon dioxide (carbon and oxygen), and sunshine for photosynthesis. At the surface it can produce flowers, which will be fertilized, which will produce seeds, which will fall into the muds below, only to lay dormant for the next four years – then the cycle will repeat itself.
Cyclo (Water Lily Beetle)
Of the thousands of varieties of beetles that call the Amazon rain forest home, Cyclocephala castanea (let’s call him Cyclo) is in search of a meal. There is only one item on his menu, the nectar produced by the white flower of a Victoria amazonica lily (let’s call her Vicky). As the Creator planned it, the survival of Cyclo’s race is entirely dependent on linking up with a Vicky white flower; in like manner, the perpetuation of Vicky’s race is equally dependent on visits from a Cyclo beetle.
When Vicky seeds in a certain location germinate, their petioles (stems) grow rapidly toward the surface; only the first petiole to reach sunlight will survive. Most will not have enough oxygen or nutrients to make the 30-foot journey upward; others will arrive only to find they have no room to grow. The first lily on the scene has literally covered the entire surface area with scores of giant lily pads comprising thousands of square feet, hogging all the sunlight. A single pad can support the weight of a person weighing 100 pounds!
When the first petiole reaches the surface, it begins to grow round buds full of thorns. The buds can grow into a massive leaf (lily pad) up to six feet in diameter in just a few hours; the under side of the pad remains thorny to prevent fish from eating it while the edges of the up-side curl, acting as a bumper and preventing the pod from sinking in rough currents. Almost immediately brilliant white flowers, a foot in diameter, appear. Just as the sun is setting at dusk, the white flowers, by far the most brilliant in the forest, begin to open. As they open, the flower emanates a distinct perfume irresistible to only one type of insect, the beetle named Cyclo.
Cyclo beetles are only attracted to white Vicky flowers, which are 18 degrees warmer than all other forest flowers, and only to the scent of Vicky flowers. Thousands of beetles converge at dusk upon the field of Vicky water lilies; they will spend the night feasting on the delicious nectar inside the flower. As the beetles dine, the pedals around them start to close slowly, trapping them for the night; in a manner, the flowers kidnap the beetles. It is during the overnight nectar banquet that God has arranged for reproduction of both lily and beetle to take place. The beetles, being cooped up over night and drunk on scrumptious lily-syrup, have plenty of opportunity to mingle, which leads to inevitable reproduction. Enough said about beetle -courting; lily reproduction is far more interesting.
The giant amazon water lily flower can change from female to male in the same day. These lilies cannot reproduce by the conventional pollination method that relies on any beetles or other insects which are just randomly stopping by and simply pollinating. Once Vicky has trapped Cyclo, it rains a shower of pollen from its male anthers, totally covering the beetles. In the morning Vicky opens and allows the Cyclo-beetles to fly away and pollinate other Vicky-lilies, but not any of the flowers belonging to the pad where they had just dined; that would be self-pollination, not cross-pollination. Big problem!
Vicky (Pink Flower)
So, how did the Creator solve this reproductive problem? During the night of beetle captivity, Vicky makes some alterations to ensure that the released beetles would never return to her flower. First, Vicky drops her body temperature by 18 degrees (beetles like it warm and white), then, she changes color from a fragrant white flower to a pink, odorless flower; this happens simultaneously with all the flowers of that clan (common to one seed). She has become completely unattractive to the pollen-covered departed beetles, who are now free to find another Vicky of a different clan. Of course, many of the Cyclo-beetles from the previous night brought pollen from other Vicky-plants not related to this clan, thus resulting in cross-fertilization and the production of seeds. Thousands of seeds would eventually fall to the bottom of the lake or river, lodge in the mud, and enter their four-year dormant cycle.
I believe this remarkable symbiotic reproductive system involving two species (Vicky and Cyclo) from two different kingdoms (plant and animal) provides compelling evidence of God’s intelligent design. It is far too (irreducibly) complex and elegant to have emerged from random natural selection. Consider the lilies!
