Friday, 28 March 2008
ANTS
Proverbs 6:6-8 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
Have you ever taken the time to just stop and watch ants at work? I was recently on my sabbatical and one morning down by the river I saw a huge pile of ants. So I did what anyone would, I kicked it! What a wake up call, thousands of ants poured out of the mound and went to work. It was amazing to just sit and watch them. A few days later I was watching some large red ants going back and forth from their nest and I put a large stick in the path. The very first ant that came to that stick started moving it. I thought to myself these guys are great. Then I read the verse above out of proverbs. Here is what I think the word ANTS stands for.
A=attitude, ants have a great attitude. They have a can do attitude! Knock their nest down and they rebuild it. Put a large stick in their way, they will move it. Ants get the job done with a good attitude. If there is one think I know it is that we have an enemy that loves to knock our nest down and put obstacles in our path. Would we not all be better off to be like the ant and just do what needs to be done with a good attitude?
N=nature of integrity. The ants need no overseer, no accountability partner, no supervisor telling them what to do. Instead they just do what needs to be done. They do not have to contently be motivated to do what is right, instead they just get it done. They have a nature of integrity.
T=thirst for industry. They work hard. Those ants rebuilt their nest in a matter of hours when I knocked it down. That red ant moved that stick I placed in the path within a few minutes so the other ants could move down the trail freely. Ants seem to thrive on challenges, they have a thirst for industry and love to work.
S= store up. Ants think ahead and store up in the summer for the long cold winter that they know will come. They don’t hoard things, they are not selfish, they do not store up more then they need. But they do take the time to store up. We must be careful not to store up more then we need, but we must be equally as careful to store up, because winter will one day find us all. If we don’t take the time to store, we will be left out in the cold.
Next time you come across an ant pile take a few minutes to watch them work. Take the time to consider how you can be like the ant. Consider it’s ways and be wise!
