{"id":3713,"date":"2016-11-10T17:57:02","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T00:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=3713"},"modified":"2016-11-10T17:57:02","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T00:57:02","slug":"learning-from-ants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=3713","title":{"rendered":"Learning from Ants"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"don-sweating\"<\/a>This morning early, I headed to Littleton for a Colorado Christian University Business Alliance meeting. We heard a presentation from new CCU President Dr. Don Sweeting. I made it back to Fort Collins in time to prepare for and hold a planning committee meeting for next year’s National Day of Prayer.<\/p>\n

BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…<\/strong>\u00a0“Ants\u2014they aren\u2019t strong,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>but they store up food all summer.”<\/em> \u00a0Proverbs 30:25 NLT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nobody likes them, but there is a fascination with ants. Often you will see them scurrying about and even carrying something that is bigger than they. Here are some things that Solomon observes from ants that challenge us.<\/p>\n

1 – Planning ahead. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems that Solomon contrasts outward strength with wise planning. Ants plan ahead and prepare for the future. That discipline can be a struggle for many people. Too often it is “living for today.” When you look at the financial practices of many it is interesting to learn of the lack of savings and forethought for the future. Also, the concept of “all” summer means they don’t wait for the last minute. They know their task and stay at it.<\/p>\n

2 – Diligent effort. <\/strong><\/p>\n

“Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.\u00a0<\/span>Learn from their ways and become wise!\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Though they have no prince\u00a0<\/span>or governor or ruler to make them work,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>they labor hard all summer,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>gathering food for the winter.”<\/em> (Proverbs 6:6-8 NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ants are always active. No one has seen ants just “laying around!” They are constantly on the move. Solomon uses ants to goad those who would be lazy and fail to use their time wisely. Laziness leads to poverty.<\/p>\n

“But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?\u00a0<\/span>When will you wake up?\u00a0<\/span><\/span>A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,\u00a0<\/span>a little folding of the hands to rest\u2014<\/span><\/span>then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;\u00a0<\/span><\/em>scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.”<\/em> (Proverbs 6:9-11 NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

3 – Getting a task done together.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Solomon seems to point out that the success of the efforts of ants to store food is not due to an elaborate organization (although I’m not sure what science has discovered) but to due to their unity effort in “helping each other out” and working together. In other words, they do what they need to not because they are “being told” but because it is what is needed.<\/p>\n

I consider how often there can be a lack of involvement or assistance that people offer each other if they are not motivated by some “outside force.” So, the challenge is to have the inward incentive to do on our own what would otherwise take some “organized effort.”<\/p>\n

When we look at ants, as baseball player Yogi Berra said, “you can observe a lot by look’n.”<\/p>\n

Prayer for today….<\/strong>\u00a0Lord thank You for the wisdom that comes through unexpected ways. We see in nature your desire for us to be diligent and thoughtful in our efforts and planning for the future. We also, see how much more can be accomplished when we work together.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning early, I headed to Littleton for a Colorado Christian University Business Alliance meeting. We heard a presentation from new CCU President Dr. Don Sweeting. I made it back to Fort Collins in time to prepare for and hold a planning committee meeting for next year’s National Day of Prayer. BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…\u00a0“Ants\u2014they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3718,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713\/revisions\/3718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}