"Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!" (Prov. 6:6)
Whereas it is commonly believed that ants never sleep, they actually do! They have mastered the fine art of the “power nap”. It is said that worker ants take turns to sleep, each one sleeping for one minute at a time. Altogether, this adds up to around four hours of sleep a day. By taking turns in their sleep, these clever ants actually fool us into believing that they are working all day! More importantly, the short bouts of sleep, repeated at regular intervals, improve the overall productivity of each ant, and serve to keep the colony as a whole in a state of perpetual activity. The queen ant (bless her heart!) gets six-minute sleep intervals, totaling to nine hours of sleep a day. Interestingly, it is said that that the longer duration of sleep in queen ants is the secret to their longer life span.
So, the next time your boss sneaks up on you and finds you catching forty winks, do enlighten him to the fact that you were not really sleeping – just doing a power nap, ant-style. And that, indeed, like the ant, it will result in you working longer and much more efficiently. Not to mention the additional benefit of elongating your productive life span. With a bit of luck, you’ll leave him more enlightened as he shows you the door and sends you packing to your next job.
But here’s the question: Have you ever wondered, like I often have, what motivates ants to do the things that they do? It seems like such a dreary existence! Forever foraging for food, ants go about their tasks as one, unified, superorganism – marching relentlessly onward with single-minded devotion. Theirs appears to be a life of abject slavery: repetitive, never-ending, back-breaking, uninspiring, mundane, futile, thankless, and completely devoid of pleasure and excitement.
Sounds a lot like your current job, does it not?
I can recall episodes in my working life when I have suffered bouts of frustration – and many a time I have felt like throwing in the towel and walking out the door, never to return. I remember one particular day when, after a very ugly and unpleasant lambasting by an irate boss, I had just about had it and was ready to move on. That night, I remember crying out: “Lord, I’m hoping for out, soon! But if your will is ‘wait’, I’ll wait.” Well, guess what? Several years down the road, I’m still here … Evidently, His will was, ‘Wait’!
Numerous bible verses have kept me trudging on like an ant over the years, especially during the times I’ve felt like giving up. “Better to be patient than powerful; better to win control over yourself than over whole cities” (Prov. 16:32). That one helped me keep my natural craving for power, prestige and promotion in check, and instead wait patiently for God’s timing. “Whatever you do, work at it wholeheartedly, as unto the Lord and not unto men” (Col. 3:23). Taught me that my motivation at work should be to please God, rather than to stay out of trouble with mortal man (read unreasonable boss!). “A gentle answer turns away wrath …” (Prov. 15:1); “Trust in the Lord with all your heart …” (Prov. 3:5); “Count it all joy when you face trials of every kind …” (James 1:2) – the list goes on. God’s word truly has an answer for every situation. Amazing!
I am reminded of the words of a poem that I love (and one which resonates well with the sentiments of Psalm 40). The first lines of the poem go thus:
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit- Rest if you must, but don’t you quit!Wise counsel, indeed.
It is said of the ant, that it “has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” (Prov. 6:7-8). How much more you, my friend, as you go about “working wholeheartedly, as unto the Lord”! Not only do you have a Commander, but He owns the anthills on thousands of hills. And if He is pleased to keep the ants forever marching forward, He is certainly pleased to see you trudge on diligently and faithfully, serving others and serving Him.
Incidentally, much like the ant, another creature that has realized the value of taking minute vacations over the course of an ordinary, action-packed day, is the pigeon. It is said that a pigeon’s eyes cannot focus while it is on the move. In order to see where it is going, the pigeon has to bring its head to a complete stop between steps – just to refocus. This gives the pigeon a funny-looking gait as it dithers along, seemingly pondering each step. But the pigeon knows this one valuable fact: looking good is not as important as seeing well!
By the way, aren’t you thankful to God for places like Maisha, where you can have the opportunity to take time off to rest, refocus, be revitalized, and recharge your batteries …?
(But, as usual, I digress! Just couldn’t resist throwing in a brief commercial!)
Winners don’t quit, and quitters don’t win. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, when you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on! Take a power nap if you must, like the industrious ant. Like the pigeon, stop between steps and refocus, then start again. Look clumsy as you do; it doesn’t matter. Whatever it takes – just don’t you dare quit! No matter your station in life, no matter the season you currently find yourself in – if God brought you to it, He will certainly see you through it. Remember, life’s a marathon, not a hundred-yard dash. And, though starting a race is commendable, it is at the finish line that greatness is to be found!
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