Dear Daughters,

Have you ever seen an ant hill and watched all the busy little ants walking around, each of them carrying at least one grain of sand?  Now be sure that I am not an ant lover – oh no.  I think they are industrious and amazing, but I do not like them, especially in my house. 

I remember many decades ago, Uncle Steve somehow fell into a red ant pile, and his back was a mess of ant bites.  These were not the innocuous little black ants but big red fire ants.  His back was swollen and red for several days, so since then I have been careful to stay away from ant hills.

            Surprisingly, the Bible has an interesting section on learning from the ants:

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.

Learn from their ways and become wise!

Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,

They labor hard all summer,

Gathering their food for the winter.

Proverbs 6:6-7(NLT)

King Solomon, who probably wrote these words, was famous for asking God for wisdom.  He had many good workers in his kingdom but probably a few lazybones as well.  He also knew the story of the Israelites wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years, many of them being complaining lazybones. They had been slaves all their lives and didn’t know how to walk in freedom – which brings us to the next Wilderness Mentality Joyce Meyer has discovered from studying the book of Exodus:

Wilderness Mentality #2

Someone do it for me; I don’t want to take the responsibility

I’m sure you know people like this, and sometimes I even find myself desiring others to take the responsibility and do the difficult things for me.  Let’s face it, life is hard.  It’s hard to be responsible and go to work every day, loving people who are not lovable, keeping on keeping on.  It takes effort to plan ahead, store food for the winter, and care for your family.

But back to the tiny ants, did you know that an ant can lift something 50 times its weight?  That’s like me lifting one hippopotamus or seven cows, which is pretty crazy.  But these little creatures are busy and dedicated to gather their food and store it for the winter.  There are no bosses, no commanders or managers.  Yet each of them does what they were created to do – build tunnels and store food.  They don’t complain or grumble, they just see there is a job to be done and they do it.  Yes, it takes work, it takes time and sometimes people like me may unwittingly walk right on top of their hill of hard work, yet they just keep walking, fix up the mess and move on. How I would love to have the attitude of an ant. 

If you remember, the trip from Egypt to Canaan was only an 11-day trip, but it took the Israelites 40 years to make that short distance.  One reason for that long, wandering journey was their poor attitudes.  It amazes me that even though the Israelites saw the 10 plagues before they left Egypt, witnessed the Red Sea split in two so they could walk on dry ground, watched the manna (free food) fall every day – still they became complainers any time a problem came up.  You would think they would remember that God had always helped and provided for them in the past, so would learn to thank Him in advance for how He would provide for them again.  But no, they moaned and groaned, murmured and complained, wishing they were slaves back in Egypt.  Life was just too hard in this land of freedom…

It sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  Even though we see the faithfulness of God with the sun coming up every day, the beautiful seasons continually appearing each year, our abundance of food, clothing, jobs, and places to live, still we find things to complain about.  And often they are so silly and inconsequential – we have to wait in line at the grocery store, hit too many red traffic lights, and have to eat the same thing two days in a row.…   I am amazed at how patient God is to put up with our lack of gratitude and trust.

You may remember the verse,

If you bow low in God’s awesome presence,

He will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in His hands.

Pour out all your worries and stress upon Him and leave them there,

 for He always tenderly cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7 (TPT)

God has told us to pour out all our worries and stress on Him, yet he also desires us to be humble enough to be responsible to do the tasks set before us, to take responsibility like the ants do.  Each one carries its own load and works together with the other ants.  If someone crushes their home, they rebuild and move on.  They work humbly and responsibly.

There are many things in life that can be delegated.  Personal responsibility, however, is not one of them.  You are the only one who can take responsibility for your attitude and I’m the only one who can take responsibility for mine.  I’m not saying it’s easy or sometimes even desirable, but the Holy Spirit will give you the strength to be grateful and trusting, and God will bless your obedience. Remember all God has done in the past, His faithfulness, His provision, His care and His love for you.  His promises never fail.

Love,

Mom