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The Venus Flower Basket – Symbol of Love
One of the most beautiful
of all the creatures that live in the oceans is the
rare and very seldom seen Venus flower basket. It only
grows on the ocean floor at depths of three thousand
to five thousand feet, in the warm tropical waters of
the South Pacific, mostly around the Philippines and
Japan.
This creature is actually a sponge;
however it does not look anything like the sponges you
use for cleaning in your home. It is extremely beautiful,
intricate, and dainty. When full grown the Venus flower
basket is tube shaped and about twelve inches long,
usually with some slight curvature.
It looks like it is made up of an intricate
fine lace expertly spun in glass fibers no thicker than
human hair. It is woven in the form of a hollow tube
shaped like a rams horn. The smaller, tapered end is
anchored to the ocean floor by a multitude of fine glass-like
fibers. The larger end has a lacey looking cap over
it.
Because it looks like it is woven from
glass it is sometimes called a glass sponge. Its scientific
name is Euplectella Aspergillum.
When the Venus flower basket is small,
tiny shrimp swim in and out of it. However, as the Venus
Flower Basket grows it seals off the open upper end,
and at the same time the shrimps grow so that they cannot
swim through the side of the Venus flower basket. As
this happens, a pair of shrimps, one male and one female,
will stay inside the Venus flower basket and become
trapped there. This pair of shrimps will spend the rest
of their lives inside that Venus flower basket.
To the Japanese this is a symbol of
eternal love and being happily married forever. A Venus
flower basket is sometimes given as a wedding present
in Japan because of this beautiful symbolism.
There is no such thing as divorce for
these shrimp couples.
With divorce gaining epidemic portions
in some countries, can we learn a lesson from these
shrimp? God, the creator of all of us as well as these
little shrimps, did not intend, nor does he want, marriages
to end in divorce.
If these shrimps have a problem, somehow
they work it out. They share their living space, food,
and everything else with each other. Likewise we need
to learn to work out the problems in our marriage and
make them work. Learning how to share better and more
often is a good start.
Spencer W. Kimball, one of the great
religious leaders of our time, said that all divorce
is the result of selfishness by one or both marriage
partners. Shouldn’t we start being less selfish
and start serving more in our marriage and family? As
we serve and unselfishly give within our homes, our
love for our spouse and children will increase, team
cooperation will increase, and problems will start being
solved in a spirit of love and mutual trust.
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