**IF YOU DON’T LIKE ANTS – LOOK AWAY!**
For this week’s reflections I talk about how Flying Ant Day as a signpost to God as creator of all that is – creation’s symphony .
Our garden was transformed for an hour or so this week.
Across Bognor, Felpham and Yapton, any maybe other places too, it was ‘Flying Ant Day’.
I saw one post commenting it was good that at least one thing planned for 2020 had actually gone ahead!
As you can see, our garden and patio were crawling with Ants.
Every corner of the garden seemed to be covered!
It wasn’t long before social media was populated with posts from across the area commenting on the ants swarming, and according to one post, the swarms were even picked up by satellites.
But why does this phenomenon happen?
How do thousands of ants, in separate nests and colonies across a geographical area all decide to fly at the same time?
There’s probably a scientific answer, to do with the inbuilt nature and DNA of an ant which means they all fly when certain atmospheric conditions are met.
Or something like that. I don’t know the science, maybe you do and it would be great to hear, do comment below!
But even if the science does give an explanation of how this phenomenon happens, Does it really tell us why?
Where does the science come from?
Why does the science mean it happens in this way?
For me, science is a great to way to understand how things happen and work. But for the why – science isn’t where I look.
I look to God.
Who I believe is the source of life and breathe,
Is the reason we live and move and have our being.
And through God being the source of all life,
all creation is connected to God.
Colossians 1 speaks about the connectedness of creation, and Eugene Peterson puts it this way:
We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.
Colossians 1:15-17, The Message
So whether it be ants on flying at day,
The beauty of a flower blooming,
The crispy taste of a fresh apple,
the wonder of new birth…
Know that by the nature of our being,
We are connected to the source of all life, The creator, God.
And through that connection to the creator,
all creation is connected to one another,
We are part of God’s amazing symphony,
Creations’ Symphony
Which comes together to sing to the awesome, amazing, mind-blowing and intricate design of creation, reminding us that God is creator,
that God is the why of all that is,
and leaves us “lost in wonder, love and praise”.[1]
Downloadable Version
Join the Conversation
Did you see Flying Ant Day?
Do you know the science behind how the phenomenon happens?
What reminds you of the creator?
Do you even believe God is creator?
Comment below and join the conversation!
[1] Line from Love Divine, Charles Wesley, Singing the Faith No.503
Rev Dan Balsdon's Blog 
The ants in my garden flew the week before! And they came inside the house through every crack in the patio door and from under the parquet floor. For an hour I sprayed ant powder and shrieked at them to fly away. The only winner was the robin who stood on the patio happily picking off any ant who escaped my wrath! I could laugh afterwards… and i could accept that creation does not follow human rules! In this case the ants even got the wrong timetable – but when did God follow any human timetable? And I had to accept that at least the robin could profit. So I’ll have to ask myself now who or what is profiting from this untimely virus storm. Amazingly, the answer seems to be quite a lot of people who have rediscovered themselves away from the hassle of the normal working day. So, thank you.Lord – but I still don’t like ants!
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I didn’t see flying ants last Thursday so maybe that’s a pleasure yet to come! They choose one hot sunny day in July to fly and mate and no doubt establish new colonies. A miracle of nature but like Lynne I’m not too keen, especially in the house.
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