Have you ever noticed the way ants never seems to go away? You could probably make the case that they have more lives than cats. It seems no matter how many treatments you apply they just pop up somewhere else and it starts all over again. It’s a very frustrating nuisance for most homeowners, especially if you live in the south. There are endless species and some of them have a nasty bite with an itch and sting that can linger on.
I was sitting on my porch this morning watching the sky go from a soft grey to blue as the sun made its way toward the horizon. I love looking at the sky at all different times of the day. I just find it so mesmerizing. It is constantly changing in both color and design. I frequently use this time to talk to God. Seeing the beauty of his creation just makes me so aware of him. I’ve always felt this way since childhood.
But, I can’t help being somewhat distracted by the ground below my feet. The nuisance of these little creatures keep drawing my attention away. How can something so minuscule become such a big fuss. Why won’t they just die off already?
Isn’t this somewhat similar to how we feel when a rather itsy-bitsy, or as we call it today a micro-aggression, has been cast in our direction? We perceive what we think is a snub or perhaps a less-than-friendly response from someone. Or maybe you ordered something online and were excited to see the Amazon truck pull up only to be totally disappointed in the product and now you have to go through all the trouble of returning it. You know where I’m going with this…it’s our response to things, the irritants of life that we let spread out in all directions affecting our moods, resulting in a kind of swarm of emotions. You know, kick that ant hill and those pesky little creatures scurry off looking to burrow in another dark space.
I think we all have lots of these bratty “ants” burrowed down deep inside of us. These sinful attitudes that we justify and tolerate so readily. It can be so easy to have our thoughts drawn away from all the God-given gifts in our lives only to focus on the things we are dissatisfied with. Our eyes dart away from the heavens the minute someone or something kicks our “ant hill” and disturbs our cozy little nest. Our thoughts can run away aimlessly brooding over the most insignificant things rendering us ungrateful and joyless. And either we can feel the sting of the bite or we are causing someone else to.
So, what do we do to to mitigate our ant problem? Well, the first thing is that we have to see it as a problem. We have to be aware of our responses and evaluate the legitimacy of them in conjunction with the cause. Could we be overreacting? Maybe we need to adjust our expectations. Maybe our ant hill has just grown way to large because we haven’t been keeping up with the treatment process. God’s Word is a powerful treatment in effectively breaking down that nasty nest. It has a way of bringing some humility to the arrogance of our tireless self-absorption. When our hearts are doused in his truth those ants will slowly begin to die off. One pesky little annoyance after another. We won’t likely kill them all but hopefully, if we are persistent in our treatment regimen, we can spend more time looking at the sky, talking to God. After all, how much more enjoyable would that be than obsessing over the pests below our feet?
“For the Word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable…so let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Hebrews 4:12-13; 15-16
“…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2