By Pamela Olivetree

“When the flower blooms, the bees will come.” ~ Srikumar Rao

The first time seeing a peony bush swarming with ants was alarming. Especially since it was a bush in my yard that had, for the first time, a healthy display of round, fuchsia-tinged buds; each one so tightly wadded it was hard to imagine them opening up! From my anxious perspective the ants were hurting the plant, so I ran to my computer to research an attack plan.

But I found something intriguing. The ants weren’t eating the buds. They were licking the nectar that oozes from the petals as they try to open!

It’s actually such a common occurrence that many believe ants have a symbiotic relationship with peony flowers. Ants naturally love sweet nectar. And peony flowers ooze it as they open. But sometimes the nectar runs so thick on the buds, that without ants “doing what they love to do,” the peonies might not open!

And this is not even counting another benefit of the ants: their presence alone is believed to deter less desirable insects from landing on the bush during its tender flowering stage.

I was relieved to know the ants were good for peonies, and to also learn their lesson. When we simply focus on being who we were created to be, and loving what we were created to love, others will be blessed by us, naturally. The ants weren’t intentionally trying to open blooms. They weren’t intentionally trying to protect the bush. They simply love nectar, and in the process of going after nectar, they end up helping a plant that needs assistance. Likewise, we don’t have to worry about being “useful” to God or others. It can even do damage, to strive and grasp for an end result. All we have to do is go after what we were created to go after, and love what (or more accurately, Who) we were created to love and be in relationship to. Then, and only then, we will someday look back and see all the good our lives did. We will have made the impact on the world we were meant to make.

Thank you, little ants.

“‘Where has your Beloved gone,

O most beautiful among women?

Where has your Beloved turned,

That we may seek Him with you?’

‘My Beloved has gone down to his garden,

To the beds of balsam,

To feed in the gardens, and gather lilies.

I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine,

He who grazes among the lilies.'”

   ~ Song of Songs ~