There's an Orkin commercial that shows the teacher holding ants underwater. He does it to prove to the class that ants can live in the water. Duh, I already knew that because if they had come in 2's to the ark Noah would have had the sense to squish them so they must have survived in the water. I do not like ants. But God knew what he was doing so they must be valuable for something. Ants are in fact mentioned twice in the bible.

Proverbs 6:6-8
6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

Proverbs 30:24-25
24 There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:
25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

Solomon says we can learn from the ants. He says ants are one of four small but wise things. Solomon is right. I read a little article called "The Ant Philosophy" which discusses a four part philosophy. I thinkn the ideas of this philosphy are as true for us as they are for ants.

Ants never quit. You can step on some in the line and the rest will just keep on going. Leave your foot there and they'll go around it or over it and probably bit you along the way. They will do whatever it takes to make it over, under, or through the obstacle. They won't give up; "quit" and "retire" are not words in the ant vocabulary.

Have you ever heard someone exclaim, "I tried to teach but gave up because one of the children was too difficult" or "I went soul winning one time and got a door slammed on my face. It hurt my feelings and I haven't been back." We must keep on; all things including things with obstacles are possible through God. At an evangelism conference I attended I heard a man put it this way. He said, "You have to plow around the stumps." If the field is going to be plowed, it may not be straight and pretty but you have to plow around the stumps. You will find stumps in your work, in your community, and in your church; you will find them anywhere you try to make a difference. Don't give up just go around.

When you kick an ant hill (or drive over one) the ants don't sit there feeling sorry for them selves they get to work rebuilding. You poison the mound and they don't spend six months in depression counseling. They move the hill and move on with ant life. We need the wisdom of the ants.

Ants think ahead too. All summer long ants are thinking of one thing, winter. They are storing food deep in their beds so the colony can survive. They realize summer won't last forever so ants are gathering in their winter food in the middle of summer. We can't be naive enough to think summer is going to last forever either, we have to plan ahead. I read an article the other day that was talking about how shallow the knowledge is of younger Christians; the article said they were hungry for knowledge but lacked it. I wonder why? We have failed to provide the food for the future of the colony. Christians are all too often concerned with who's going to do this and that for me now rather than who will provide for the future. We want someone else to teach the classes and someone else should volunteer to work in the Nursery. Another aspect of looking ahead is the need to keep our affairs in order. I was watching one of those movies where you know everyone is going to be dead except for the hero at the end of the movie. In it, one character looks at another and says something to the effect of "Take this. It's my address. If I die, go to my apartment and get rid of the porn and the drugs so I don't disappoint my parents." You disappointed your heavenly father when you first got the stuff. We need to get our own affairs in order not expect someoneelse to do it for us.

The ant philosophy article included this statement: "Don't build your house on the sand in the summer." That statement didn't make sense to me so I thought on it and awhile. Here's what I came up with. In the summer the beach seems great, you want to spend your life there. Perhaps, you gofor it and you build a house . But then comes hurricane season and that’s followed by winter when tourist season is totally dead and there's nothing to do because everyplace is closed up and you have no neighbors to tlalk with or nothing. In the summer you have to look into the futre and see fall and winter around the corner.

Think ahead and lay up your treasures in heaven where thieves, moths, and rust cannot touch them. (Matthew 6:20)

Ants may think about winter all summer but they also think summer all winter. That too is important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, "This won't last long; we'll soon be out of here." And the first warm day, the ants are out and generally on their way to my house. If it turns cold again, they'll dive back down, but then they come out the next warm day. They can't wait to get out. They know in the lean times somethign better is coming.

As Christians we too can know there is something better and we can stay positive. In the valley of the shadow of death, we can remember who the Lily is and in the briar patch remember who the Rose of Sharon is. (Song of Solomon 2:1 )

How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All that he possibly can. Ants don't calculate one grass seed per day of winter so 90 and I'm all set. If they can get 365 seeds they will and then they'll double it to be safe. I've never seen an ant walk away from food empty handed. Ants don't punch out at the end of teh day and they don't retire.

Paul didn't retire; he didn't speak of his race as being run (past tense) until his life was a few days from being over. John didn't throw in the towel when he got exiled to Patmos. He didn't have people to talk to so he sat there just talking to God and recording what God revealed to him. There's no such thing as serving God too much. Christians never retire and they never even go off the clock.

Dana and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary in a couple months. I can't imagine telling her, "Dana, we've been married ten years now and I'm just tired of doing for you. I'm going to retire from this whole business of beeing a husband. We'll be married in name but don't expect anything from me." After I got elbowed into next month and picked myself back up, I believe I'd see the error of my ways. Til death do us part I'm married and better act like it or death just might find me. No wonder Jesus and the church are married. Til death do us part and our spirit will never die.

If we could shrink ourselves down and attend a motivational meeting with the ants I bet it would be wonderful. The driven ants could out teach many of our best selling authors and motivational speakers. Frankly they would shame us all. Solomon was right they are wise; we'd learn alot from the ants. We all could use the ant philosophy: never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can. As Christians we ought to be just like the ants