The peony has become one of my favorite flowers.
They start out kinda ugly.
Red stalks come out of the ground, and you wonder what will ever become of them.
Then, suddenly it seems, the red transforms to green and huge buds form.
One day, BOOM – the pink, white, or purple petals pop.
But the stunning petals stay tightly bound.
They need some help to open up.
Peonies remind me of my grandma Carol.
Bushes of the pink blooms swayed for years at the farm where she lived a season of her fragrant life.
In her late twenties, she already had raised her little brothers and was caring for her own husband and 5 kids on a shoestring budget.
She did not have an easy life.
I know she had deep joys and deep heartaches and I wish I could talk to her now.
If I could, I would ask her about how each trial she endured changed her.
You see, these pink peonies share similarities with my grandma.
These gorgeous blooms emit a sweet nectar that attracts ants.
Big, black, fearsome ants.
These ants barge their way in to harvest the nectar.
But when they do, they actually serve to open up the tight petals of the flower.
The ants make the flower more open, more vulnerable, more beautiful.
I think that’s what happened to my grandma.
She had many trials in life, and as unwelcome and fearsome as they may have been, they changed her.
They forced her to open up her guarded petals, to diffuse more of her Savior’s sweet scent to the world around her.
This was a continual process in her life, until her flower faded and drooped, bowed down and broken by ALS.
Such a short season.
Though I can’t talk to her about it now, it’s clear her time on earth gave much honor to God.
I love to hear people talk about her and how special she was to them.
Her life touched so many while she was here on earth.
I know she is bursting even more gloriously in the eternal garden.
So when trials and difficulties come barging into in my life,
Undesirable as they may seem,
I will remember the peonies.
I will remember my grandma.
I will remember my Savior.
And I will welcome the ants.