I sat for some time this morning watching peony buds covered with busy little ants.  I wondered how ants on the ground know to climb to the tops of the plants to find sweet nectar there on the buds.  They certainly can’t see the buds from the ground.

I learned that ants can smell food hundreds of miles away.  They know exactly what they are going after when they smell the sweet nectar somewhere above them on a peony plant.  A wonderful God in heaven gifted their little antennae with that ability.

If a loving God in heaven can do such a thing for a tiny ant, what has He done for me, his daughter, created in His image?  What honing devices has He placed in me to lead me back to Him??

I thought about the gift of the Holy Ghost that prompts me and guides me.  It warns and directs me.  It keeps me safe and nudges me toward Home.  It is His perfect gift that will lead me to where my soul longs to be, with Him.

I also learned that the relationship between peonies and ants is a type of mutualism in which two organisms of different species benefit from the activity of one another. Peony buds provide nectar, a food for ants, and in turn, the ants protect the blossoms from other bugs that might destroy the blooms.

It’s sort of like how we’re put here on earth in families and communities to help each other.  We feed and protect each other.  When we do that, beauty emerges like the glorious blooms on a peony plant.

Here are a few of the peonies blooming in our yard this week:

And here are a few others beauties to enjoy:

Learning about ants and peonies makes me wonder how many other quiet relationships are going on in our garden, to make this place a little bit of heaven here on earth.