Take a lesson in life from the lowly ant

Take

a lesson in life from the lowly ant

The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher

The Bible

says, "Go to the ant...observe her ways and be

wise" (Proverbs 6:6). Well, Sunday afternoon, I did.

I got a little wiser. The wisdom: when you observe the

ants, keep your distance. Now, I nurse more than six

bites on my ankles. My yard has enough ants to paralyze

every drug pusher in Atlanta.

If the ants

wanted, they could march right into my home-through

the many cracks-and completely eliminate the Hatcher

family in our sleep. Thousands and thousands of fire ants

claim my yard as their home without paying one dime in

rent.

Now if the

Bible lifts the lowly ant as an example, I've got to

honor them. The Bible exalts the ant because he's a hard

worker. God wants us to be more like ants. Do you notice

the proliferation of ant mounds as winter approaches?

Ants prepare for Y2K every year. They constantly collect

food, dig deep into the heated earth, and survive

happily. Every year.

Interestingly,

some of our youth attended last Friday night's service at

Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola ( the site of

the awesome revival going on for five years). The Rev.

Steve Hill, Brownsville evangelist, spoke on the subject

"Consider the Ant." Casey Wilkerson, wife of

our minister of youth, took good notes and shared them

with me.

Just the

facts: 15,000 kinds of ants; ants are always looking for

food even when in danger; no matter what's in front of

them, ants go forward; ants do not fight among

themselves; ants care for one another; and more.

The big

thing about ants is the queen. The queen ant. All of life

centers around the queen. The reason six ants got their

jaws in my ankles has to do with the queen. Anytime any

ant thinks the queen is threatened, he goes on the

attack. Rather successfully, I might add.

The queen

ant is the all-in-all purpose of the ants (That will

preach if you are thinking about you and me and the King

of Kings). When you see a little bitsy ant struggling

with a comparable huge chunk of food, he's taking it to

his queen. It's not his prize with which to sit down and

munch. He's struggling for the queen.

Therefore,

do you want to get ready for Y2K? Observe the ant. Want

to prepare for the future? Observe the ant. Want to make

sense out of life? Observe the ant. Want to find purpose

in life? Observe the ant. Directions: open your front

door; walk out into your yard. They are there. Hard at

work. Observe!

Just

remember not to mess with mama.

The Rev. Dr. John

Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in

Fayetteville.

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