Baby Glue Guns

“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” [1.Corinthians 12:27]

I’m sure if these amazing little creatures were human that child labor laws would never allow these insects to work like they do. Weaver ants in Northern Australia have discovered that babies make good glue guns. Through an amazing orchestra of organization these ants, also known as green tree ants, make their homes out of living leaves. To achieve this, several worker ants will form chains with their bodies to pull leaves together. In the meantime, other ants climb up the tree trunk, carrying their children in their mandibles. These baby ants are actually little grublike larvae, which they borrow from another existing nest.

Arriving at the construction site, these ants give their babies a gentle squeeze and then point them toward the leaves. Out of the baby comes a glue-like silk. Back and forth they swing their babies across the junction, which basically spot-welds the leaves together. It looks as if a white, silken network is holding the leaves in place. When the building project is finished the ants move into their new football-sized leaf nests. In spite of working the baby ants right out of the cradle, the larvae still manage to develop into healthy adult ants. Through total cooperation of young and old, the weaver ants are able to build a network of sturdy homes.

The social relationship of weaver ants can teach us about the cooperation God designs us to have in our homes and churches. Paul explained, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1.Corinthians 12:12). Just as there are different types of weaver ants in a colony (queen, workers, foragers, and even larvae) to help it survive, so God has given different gifts in the church for its success. All parts of the body are important.

“But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’” (verses 20,21). Like weaver ants, we would be much further ahead in the health of our churches and families if we valued every single member, even the babies!