Thinking About The Ant...

I mentioned yesterday that my darling husband jokingly woke me up at 4am with these words, "Wake up, it's morning...think about the ant!" (He was joking and he was smiling) He was also making a direct reference to Proverbs 6:6-11. Here is that verse from The Message:

6-11 You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two.
Nobody has to tell it what to do. All summer it stores up food; at harvest it stockpiles provisions.
So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing?
How long before you get out of bed?
A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?
Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest!

Well, I did get up out of bed, and while I went about my routine, I did "think about the ant". This verse tells us to look at an ant, watch it closely, and learn from it. On the surface this obviously tells us not to be lazy, but if we take that closer look I think we can learn even more.

When I taught kindergarten I had an ant farm in the classroom, and I used it to teach the kids about cooperation and hard work. Ants are pretty amazing, and like the verse says they can teach us a thing or two if we watch them closely. In the ant colony every ant has a job. The colony has areas divided up for different purposes such as food storage, raising little ants, and even has a mortuary where some ants take the job of disposing of the dead ants. There is an infirmary where some "nurse ants' take care of those who are weak and sick. Some colonies have "warrior ants" that provide a line of defense. Some ants gather food, some do the physical work of building the colony's rooms. It is fascinating to watch all this activity. There is also some down time, when the ants literally stop moving and rest from their work. (This is called diapause, for you trivia buffs!)

Ants don't form bloated committees, bureaucracies, or focus groups to figure out what needs to be done. Somehow they understand "the basics" and take care of what matters. They don't say "this or that needs to be done" and then all nod in agreement, but no one does what is needed.

Ants are smart enough to save up for a rainy day, to put something back for the future. Somehow they know that there are going to be times of plenty and "lean seasons", too. They are smart enough to divide the work, so that everyone plays a part instead of just a few doing everything that needs to be done. They are smart enough to stop and take a break, instead of working themselves to death. In all this clockwork precision of activity the young are still nurtured, the sick and dying are cared for. Ants are smart enough to do all these things.

What a picture of how the church should operate! Everyone participating, everyone with a job to do, instead of just the few working til burnout hits. The understanding of and preparation for both good times and bad. Focusing on the basic fundamentals of Christianity that cannot be neglected. There is no "me mentality" but all things are done out of love for one another. (a verse in Romans 12 says "practice playing second fiddle"!) The young (both chronologically and spiritually), the sick, the dying, all cared for. And in the midst of all this activity, time is taken to literally stop and rest, and truly worship.

In an ant farm, the colony cannot grow and reproduce without a queen. They may work for a while, but without her the colony will eventually die out. In the same way, without the presence of Christ, our King, we cannot truly function as a church. There are many churches that are a beehive (or anthill!) of activity, yet the Lord is not really there at all. Christ must be central to all we do, both as a church and as individuals.

Paul used the interworkings of the human body to describe how the body of Christ functions. If we would "look at an ant" it could also "teach us a thing or two" about how the church and its' members should operate. What part are you actively playing? Do you have a "second fiddle" mentality, with Christ and others placed ahead of you? And will you stop the activity to rest in Him this week? Think about the ant...

(adapted/expanded from another personal blog - all scripture from "The Message")