All God's Creatures
The diversity of living creatures on our planet is astounding.
Equally so our humble backyard.
There are hundreds of tiny creatures each with a role to play.
By watching bugs, we can learn a lot about life and how gardens work.
Even in the Bible there are references to bugs as exemplars of how
we can interact and work with other people.
The Fable: The Ant and the Grasshopper

One beautiful summer day, a lazy grasshopper was chirping and sitting
and playing games, just as he did every day. A hard-working ant passed by,
carrying a huge leaf that he was taking back to the ant’s nest.
The grasshopper said to the ant,
“All you ants do is work all day.
You should be more like me and play, play, play!”
The ant replied,
“I’m storing food for the winter season.
You should be working, for just the same reason.
What will you eat when the weather gets cold?
How will you feed your hungry household?”
The grasshopper laughed, and said,
“All you ants do is work and worry.
Slow down, don’t be in such a hurry.
Just look around, there’s plenty of food,
Don’t give me advice, that’s just plain rude.”
The ant kept working, the grasshopper kept playing, and winter soon came.
The ant had prepared for the winter and had just enough food stored in
the nest to last through the cold, harsh weather.
Now that winter had arrived, the grasshopper couldn’t find any food, and soon became very hungry.
But he soon remembered the hard-working ant he had made fun of during the summer.
The grasshopper went to the ant’s nest and asked for food. Grasshopper said,
“I sang and I played in the summer breeze,
Help me, help me, help me please
or I will die in winters freeze”
The ant, who was still busy keeping the food clean and dry, replied,
“I toiled to save food for the winter freeze,
while you spent the summer playing in ease.
I stored just enough food for the winter, it’s true,
But I can’t feed you all winter, or I’ll starve too.”
The ant gave the grasshopper a few crumbs, but the
grasshopper was cold, miserable, and hungry all winter.
The next summer, the grasshopper worked hard to store
food for the upcoming winter. That next winter,
grasshopper was well fed and happy!
He had learned to think ahead and plan for the future.
And that is the end of the story.
The Moral of the Story:
PREPARE TODAY FOR THE NEEDS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TOMORROW.
Note: That the ant in the fable only stores what it needs,
unlike the rich man who foolish gathered more than he needed as told in the parable.
Luke 12:13-21