Go to the Ant

I am looking for an ant hill. Do you want to come along? I’m bringing a plate with left over cake crumbs to attract them. Let’s look in the flower bed first. See any ants? Oh, here are a few. Where are they going in such a rush? Let’s put the plate down and see. Oh, no, the ants have all left. We will leave our crumbs here and come back later.

Come, quick! I just went to look at the plate and there are ants all over it! We kneel down to look at the tiny black insects. They are climbing on all the cake crumbs. There is one with a piece in her mouth. Where will she go? We watch her as she carries it to her tunnel. I wonder where she’ll put it? She seems to bring a message to the other ants, because now dozens more are coming out of the hole that she went in.

Just look at this ant! It’s trying to get a sticky crumb off the plate. It looks impossible for such a small animal, but it won’t give up. She climbs on top of it and tries to shove it. That won’t work. She crawls off and gives it a push from the side. Others see her working and come to help. Now there are about five ants all pushing and shoving and working as hard as they can. I see it wiggle! It’s slowly moving across the plate. Slowly but surely they take it back to their home. Another team is having trouble. Their crumb is so large it gets stuck on a stick. Can you see the leader pulling at the top while the others push from behind? Finally the stick is moved and they bring it to their hole, only to find it won’t fit through. But they won’t give up now. They take chunks from it and carry it to their storage houses. Soon the crumbs have disappeared.

The ants have a good lesson to teach us. Do they give up when a job seems too hard? No, they just keep trying until they find a way to succeed. We can be like that. Even when the work you have to do seems like a crumb bigger than yourself, you can ask God to help you do your best. You don’t have to sit down and grumble. That won’t help! Remember the ants when the work doesn’t seem fun or you wonder why you have to do it. When you are willing and cheerful, God has a blessing for you. Besides, the ants get a lot done when they all work together!