Are You An Ant?

It was 4:00am in the morning, when most will be turning over in their beds, ready to catch a few more hours of sleep. But not Raoul, he was on a mission, besides the 'family' depended on him. It was his turn to go out into the nearby fields to find and gather the resources required for the day. On his list was some food, woods to cover up some gaping holes in the wall of the home and some rags to keep the floor warm for the winter months to come.

He didn't mind the journey, he loved to work and bring back good news of his findings. He loved the fact that through his and other workers' diligence, the family got to survive on a daily basis and more importantly harsh winter conditions (and well too, if he is to be honest), which keeps the queen happy and stress free!

He got to the field's gate, excitement rising up through his veins. He was happy because as always, he knew he would be lucky. The owners of this particular field were very wasteful indeed. They throw out perfectly useful resources. Savaging around this field is like walking through a gold mine. Along with all the possible finds, comes the danger too. It is a very high risk job being a worker for the family, for there was danger of being killed by any means whatever! Getting squashed (which was the most horrible of them all), poisoned or burned. Yet, he was extremely happy to be a worker and the 2 hour journey, to and fro from the field is always worth more than it's weight in gold!

He walks around and spots a few things that will most definitely be needed at home, he makes a list and then makes the dash back home - ninja style (leaving a trail of bread crumbs he found under a shoe in the field) to inform and organise the rest of the workers. Work for the day is truly about to begin.

No, this is not an epic Enid Blyton story or Ninja movie. This is what I envisage a day to be like in the Ants Colony.

"The Ants, they are a colony of resourceful and diligent wokers"

The dictionary explains a worker as thus "a person who acts and gets things done; "he's a principal actor in this affair"; "when you want something done get a doer"; "

Diligent is explained as thus: "quietly and steadily persevering especially in detail or exactness; "a diligent (or patient) worker"; "with persevering (or patient) industry she revived the failing business"

In the Ants Colony, I envisage the workers having a meeting every evening, where they go through a roll call, which results in a forager (hunter, gatherer, shopper) being chosen daily. This forager is then given the tasks of gathering the requirements the colony needs for the next day.

I also envisage that, not only does the selected ant get excited and jumps with glee at the prospect of being the forager for the day, it probably starts planning how it will do it's job to it's best ability. Why will the ant get excited about being selected as the forager for the day you wonder, more so as no easy task.

The job of the forager is to go outside the safety of colony and look for food and other resources. Studies have been shown that the forager will go as far as 1 - 8 miles from the colony to find food, but wait, they will (along with other ants), make about 200 trips to get all the food they have spotted back to the colony.

Now for a split second, imagine making 200 trips a day to work and back! Or creating that report 200 times in a day, or updating that annoying spreadsheet 200 times a day. Or writing at least 200 words or pages a day in pursuit of your writing career!

The reason the ant might be excited is because it is wise enough to know that it works, not only for itself but for the sustenance of the whole colony. Imagine that.

Now here is my question: "Do we work for ourselves or for the sustenance of our family, our community, our church or our country?"

The ant has a selfless work ethic, for it knows; that no work equates to no food, not just for itself, but for the whole colony. No work means that there will be no peace in the colony, the queen will be worried about a whole host of things; producing new babies and simply being happy, and in modern terms; taxes, building expenses, security and survival of the colony and all that.

Another question raises in my mind: "Do we understand the ramifications of the work we have been blessed to do? Be it a writer, an accountant, a motivational speaker, a doctor or a teacher. Do we understand that it is for the sustenance and support of our home, the church, the community or the country? Furthermore, are we willing to go that one step further to make it all worthwhile, for our immediate generation and for those to come?"

Proverbs 6: 6 - 8 (Amplified version reads)"6Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise! 7Which, having no chief, overseer, or ruler, 8Provides her food in the summer and gathers her supplies in the harvest.

And the message bible brings it home, it reads" 6-11 You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two.Nobody has to tell it what to do. All summer it stores up food; at harvest it stockpiles provisions.So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed?A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest!"

In the passage above, Solomon was explaining to us the lifestyle of the worker ants in order to teach us very practical, useful and viable lessons in diligence. To be successful spiritually and socially and to experience New Beginnings of this year, laziness cannot be in the equation. God will do his part, he will honour his covenant with us, but the question remains... "are we working and being diligent on our own part of the covenant?"

Sometimes that miracle or manifestation that we want God to display is actually waiting on us to DO something, and not just engage in the act of doing, but be diligent whilst doing it.

And how do we learn how to be diligent I hear you ask? Well, for starters, we can take a leaf from the simple, yet magnificent creatures - The Ant.

So, lets get to work. Lets be diligent whilst we are 'doing' the work. Let it not be said of us that our work is sloppy and equated to vandalism as described in Proverbs 18:9, which reads "Slack habits and sloppy work are as bad as vandalism." That surely makes me cringe!

Also, as explained in proverbs 10:4, diligent workers never grow hungry and diligent people succeed both socially and spiritually. It reads "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth."

Have a great day being diligent in that which you find yourself doing, whilst making God famous along the way

Much Love

Remi Banjo

***Pictures by Photobucket***