I marvel every year just before my peony bush bursts into bloom. The dark green leaves filled with long stems topped with buds resembling tiny pink and white lollipops… Every year I wonder how long it will take them to open into the beautiful large flowers I know are eventually coming. I check them every day at this stage of their lives waiting with great anticipation for

them to reach their peak, the ultimate of beauty.

The buds grow larger every day, but it’s hard to imagine what they may become and how anything so tightly knotted up could possibly become something so large……

And then, just when I almost give up on ever seeing an actual bloom, the tiny ants and black flies appear…. The bush becomes totally covered with little black spots moving and working, working ever so digilently, hour after hour and day after day. And then finally, the outer green leaf coverings of the bud, begin to peel back allowing the bloom to spread it’s petals into a

beautiful flower…….a vision to behold

And then their job being finished, the ants and flies disappear for another year.

Year after year, it’s proven to me, the flowers cannot open on their own. The renewal of life is a wonder to cherish, but it takes more than just the urge to want to live…..

It takes work……from ourselves and others. The types and tools of work vary from species to species, job to job, but in whatever form, it’s necessary. I’ve yet to see an accomplishment of any kind that was produced on it’s own.

Give thought today to the various elements and how many other individuals it takes for you to live your life, and give them thanks. The ants and little black flies are there for a purpose, and so are those who surround you. What have you done today to help open another flower?