An old lesson from ants - written in 2010

With gazillions of little ants as roommates, I have been learning a lot of lessons.

Some are practical lessons, like on Bible Study night I can’t serve coffee cake or banana bread until after the study, because if it is sitting on the table for more than 20 minutes the entire table will be covered with ants! Or making sure that the kitchen is clean before bed, dishes washed and counters wiped with vinegar. Other lessons are lessons on how to keep ants away from certain areas, like: leaving the honey jar in a dish with vinegar water works for keeping them out of the honey, but if the water has no vinegar they will still find a way of reaching the sweet smelling lid, or that chalk drawn around openings in walls or around crib legs deter ants, but on the windowsill a line of chalk is not thick enough and instead pouring baby powder will both deter the ants and make the room smell nice.

But the best lessons learned from the ants are seeing the amazing way that God created them to live together in harmony and to advance their kingdom as a team. Ants are not easily deterred and will quickly lay down their lives for the sake of their friends (to cross water, some will drown so that the others can walk across their bodies and reach the honey on the other side!), they always work together as a team, they are good leaders/followers and teachers/students and can be seen leading “piggy-back” style to show the way to a new food source.

Proverbs talks about going to the ant to consider its ways and be wise, there are so many more lessons from ants that we can gain wisdom from than just the fact that they store up their food for the winter...but my greatest lesson from the ants has been to co-exist with them and to not allow myself to become stressed or discouraged at the sheer numbers...but to trust God to make their numbers decrease and to keep them away from Benjamin...and God is faithful and concerned about even the silliest concerns of His children, He HAS made their numbers decrease and has taught me to trust Him even with things as tiny as ants!

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