December Wildflowers

I was returning home from a trip to Jackson yesterday, when I noticed these sweet little blue wildflowers growing beside the frontage road along I-20 in Vicksburg. They were so unexpected (it's almost Christmastime, for goodness sakes!) ... and I felt as if they were beckoning to me to come back and capture them with my camera. I was tired after spending my morning running errands and then having to drive back to Vicksburg, which is an hour's drive from Jackson, but when I got home, I ran inside, grabbed my camera, and headed back to get a closer look at the flowers. After googling a few "blue wildflower" images, I decided that the flowers are Short’s Asters (Symphotrichum shortii). Not a very pretty name, but the flowers were so sweet and delicate, and I'm glad I took the time to go back and capture them in pictures. I wasn't the only one enjoying the flowers. If you look closely at the next picture (you can click on it to enlarge it), you will see a little red bug happily drinking nectar, or gathering pollen, or whatever little red bugs gather from wildflowers in December ... And just a few stems away, this busy little bee was buzzing and gathering and drinking, too ... These little flowers and insects brightened my day and made me smile ... and in light of what's going on in the world around us, I needed that very much. It was as if they were a little reminder from God that He is near.