An EE=MD2 ™ Short Story!
In the BIBLE, the book of PROVERBS contains much Wisdom. The World English BIBLE (WEB) is a BIBLE translation in the public domain. PROVERBS (WEB) Chapter 6 has these verses for us to consider:
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard.
Consider her ways, and be wise;
7 which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
8 provides her bread in the summer,
and gathers her food in the harvest.1
- This Scripture is a BIBLE memory song.
Click to hear my PROVERBS 6: 6-8 Memory Song.
Have you ever watched ants providing their bread, gathering their food?
In Texas, we have red ants. Those ants are fierce to protect each other, especially the queen’s eggs. If you disturb their ant hill, lots of red ants will gather increasingly in number to bite you repeatedly. Each fire ant grasps exposed skin with its mandibles and then uses its stinger to release venom into your skin repeatedly, even up to seven or eight times. Each sting causes intense pain and can form a pustule. These can last several days. Avoid picking at the pustules because opening them breaks the barrier against microbes. Welcoming bacteria and fungus, even viruses into a pustule increases your risk of infection and scaring. Undisturbed pustules go away in a week or so. Keep your intact skin gently cleansed and dry.
- FYI: Cleveland Clinic offers this patient education resource.
Cleveland Clinic re Fire Ant Bites
That’s Texas! I’m pretty sure my youthful days observing ants “providing” and “gathering” were up north in Kansas (and later in Nebraska) where apparently the cold winters subdue the red ant migration. I say apparently because I am not an entomologist! Certainly, I am not prone to disrupt a red ant hill in order to stand by to watch them scurry about defending their home and gathering their food.
Even so, stored in my memory banks are images of tiny black ants rushing to and fro from a food find. They follow a precise two-way line, one after the other, as if they were electric cars attached to an electric highway from which they cannot veer or wander. What they carry on their backs is in immediate contrast to what the ants returning for more gathering don’t have on their backs. The loads vary in size and shape with some portions extending outside the perimeter of a single ant body. Their journey has no halting to rest or slackening of pace to endure the burden. The only ants that stop are those whose load might drop. That ant will work diligently and alone to recover the dropped load. I have seen another ant or two join them, though not often. I read that they communicate with their antennae and with vibrations. Their quick, steady, driven movement is more impressive than any modern day caravan of big trucks unloading a ship at the docks and heading to the same warehouse or railcar!
Don’t disrupt an ant mound to stand by to watch them rebuild. Such a disruption will show you the fury of an army of ant defenses that mounts with instantaneous and effective efficiency. Instead, observe or offer food dropped near an ant bed. You might see formation of a moving black line upon a piece of dropped bread. Look closer to see the ant highway and closer still to see the loads the ants carry. Imagine yourself carrying a dense load on your back that is larger than your entire body! In what manner do ants carry such loads? Do their mouth-claws rip off just enough to position onto their backs?
Have you observed an ant pull or drag its massive find? By what criteria do they decide how much to carry and whether to drag, cut into pieces, or carry its find of food? Observe that among the ants there is no slowed pondering, no sideline grumbling or whining, just fast work!
Each of us is Created to be an essential Member of the Body of Christ.
Obedience to GOD is learned promptness to His Direction. Become as instant to His Call as an ant is instant to gather food or to defend the hill! Aside from the purpose of ants to clear food crumbs from GOD’s beautiful renewing earth, does GOD Intend our observations of the ant to inspire us to embrace the Joy and Peace of Purpose? Don’t we see that every ant is driven to perform its specific duty for the good of the whole colony?
EPHESIANS 4 and I CORINTHIANS 12 explain that Each of us human beings Is Created with specific Gifts or Ministries that equip each one of us to serve each other under the One Headship of Jesus. GOD Desires specific Gifts or Ministries for each of us. Jesus Won and Gives those to each of us. Holy Spirit Activates them according to GOD’s Will. Working like ants together according to our Gifts, we build the Body of Christ. No wasted time! No anxiety! Just Purpose!