Lessons from an Ant

Gail and I went swimming at a friend’s house this past Sunday. Our friends were gone and had invited us to use their pool. So, we went and spent a couple of hours just relaxing and enjoying being together. We paddled around and talked and paddled some more. At one point, I noticed a peculiar little “ant” that was swimming. I’m not really sure it was an ant, but ants have a jointed body so for the purpose of my story, he is an ant – the upper part was a rich light brown and with two very distinct black eyes and the bottom, or back part, had brown, red, and black stripes. It was a very pretty ant. Again, I’m not sure it was an ant, but I don’t really know what else it was. I watched it swimming, or getting ready to drown, and felt sorry for it. I found a leaf and lifted the poor little guy onto the leaf and put him on the concrete that surrounds the pool. He immediately started to clean himself off. I watched in rapt attention. He took his back legs and carefully slid them over his lower body. I assume he was using them as some sort of scraper to get the water off his back. Then he took his front legs and cleaned off first one antennae and then the other and then went back to his back legs and repeated the whole process again. He didn’t seem grateful that he had been saved by me. I’m not even sure he was aware that I was watching him. But, then he did something that amazed me. He was completely dried off – as far as I could tell – and turned and ran right over the edge of the pool right back into the water! I stood there and said “stupid ant”. After all that, he simply repeated his fateful act and landed in the water again. After awhile, Gail took pity on this ant and splashed him out of the water and on to the concrete. He cleaned himself off again and after that??.....you guessed it…..right back into the water he went. We both left him to his fate. Now you may say maybe he was a water bug. I don’t think so, but he sure was a stupid bug. We left him in the water and went back to our own swimming.

This ant did get me to thinking though. How often do I repeat my (perceived) offenses time and time again. I am lifted out of the “water” and after I lick my wounds, clean myself off, I run right back into the very place I was drowning in. Whether these are bad relationships, negative attitudes or negative ways of thinking, hurtful actions, etc.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about learning to rethink the way I think and, here is the dreaded word, feel. We get into patterns of thinking that can really hold us back and instead of reaching up and out, we run right back into the old way of whatever. I’m not sure there is much I can do about how I feel – feelings are just that, feelings. I can do more with what I think and what goes in and out of my head. But, I can really do something with how I react – this is where the choices lay.

I am grateful for a God who doesn’t walk away from me when I run right back into the water. Who lovingly bails me out each and every time. I’m sure I have given Him much opportunity to be frustrated – does God get frustrated? (Another time and Blog.) I am grateful for friends and family who love me too. I hope the little ant made it out of the water. He might be in the skimmer right now………..

-D-