Hey singles, Proverbs 6:6 is not about ants, it’s about you and me!

    We are told to “go to the ant, you sluggard, learn it’s ways and be wise.”

    Some days don’t you feel like a “sluggard”? What a great word. Some days about midafternoon, when I am tired and it’s hot, I shuffle my frame to the nearest chair. I feel like a sluggard, or maybe even a real slug! The word actually means a lazy person; someone who drifts through life every day, who just takes what life drops on them, and makes no effort to impose anything positive into the situation for themselves or others.

    Life certainly can be overwhelming. We find ourselves feeling overcome with feelings of inadequacy, fears about the present and future, along with regrets about the past. Sometimes we are paralyzed by life events. We find ourselves staring into space, numb with shock. I want to help you “go to the ant” during these times. How? Well I want to tell a story, then issue you a challenge.

    I’ve been a full-time singles minister for ten years now. It would be impossible without the constant presence and encouragement of my wife. I’m not an easy guy to be married to. In fact, on our anniversary, my wife gets sympathy cards from friends and family. She will tell you that we’ve had ten good years of marriage — of course we’ve been married twenty-five years.

    Okay, now seriously folks...

    This lady is a “multi-tasking” expert. She can help the kids with homework, bake brownies for our singles’ Bible study, counsel one of her preschool teachers, and run a sewing machine with her left foot all at the same time. That’s in addition to working fulltime and trying to have a life of her own. Guess what, she’s the greatest strength I have in my ministry. She loves single people and they love her.

    I would be lying, however, if I told you our life was smooth sailing. Our household is a little hectic most of the time. One evening a few weeks ago, I heard a shriek and smelled something burning. I tore toward the kitchen and nearly collided with a fastmoving hot aluminum pot of smoking molten sugar, syrup, and cooking oil. Attached to the handle of this pan was my wife, running barefoot toward the patio screaming, “Get out of the way, this is HOT!” She was preparing some punch that required the sugar to be melted in boiling water to get that perfect taste. She was making this concoction while taking a phone call, painting the bathroom, AND fixing the VCR. (I promise, I’m not making this up, this is a real occurence from the Branscum household!)

    As my lovely wife ran out of the door, she ran to a particular spot in the yard, then heaved the burning glop onto to the ground. Satisfied with her deposit, she turned and headed back inside.

    “Honey, are you okay?” I asked as I stood watching the hot, black, thick mess congeal on the lawn.

“Honey, are you okay?”

    “Sure,” she replied, “but I can’t talk now, I have to get back to work.”

    However, I had one question which couldn’t wait: “Why did you go out to the middle of the yard and heave that stuff on that particular spot?”

    She paused, then spun around letting her gaze fix on that pile of glop. “The fire ants. I hate ‘em. They sting, now I’ve stung them. That’ll fix ‘em. I hate ‘em!”

    She then swept back into the house in a blaze of glory. I walked over to the still smoking hardening mess, and tried to imagine the “antocide” happening below. Out of nowhere, driven by beings and forces the ants can’t understand, something destructive fell upon them.

    “It’s certainly the end of that colony,” or so I thought. The next morning I went out to find a slick, cool, hardened dark circle in the backyard. Looking closer, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Atop the circle were seven tiny ant hills; they had penetrated this barrier and were now thriving! In fact, they seemed to like this sugary mess, the very mess we thought would kill them.

    Right now, little electrical currents are probably going from antenna to antenna saying, “Hey, this stuff is sugar. It’s great. This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to the colony. Oh sure, we lost a few worker ants, but hey, this is SUGAR!” Even now, they are probably sending “antgrams” to friends and relatives inviting them to the feast....

    “Go to the ANT!”

    Here’s our challenge. Some things are within our control. Some are not. How we react to stuff dropped on us shapes our lives! You know it’s true, because you’ve lived it.

    You pay all your bills, then a bill comes out of nowhere that craters you.

    You feel fine, but the doctor looks at your x-ray, and says, “Hmmm...we better run some more tests.”

    Car wrecks, layoffs, and Geraldo Rivera all come our way unwanted, unexpected, but boom, dropping down out the clear blue, there they are.

    How will WE react to the hot smoking mess coming down on our world?

    “Go to the ANT!”

    Assess the situation as well as you can, decide what can be done to pick up the pieces, and BURROW up and out of it. Rebuild your life on top of the problem, and walk in the sunshine again with your antenna held high no matter how sticky the mess.

Title: "Go to the Ant!"
Author: Cary Branscum
Publication Date: April 6, 2001

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