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.