Invasion of the Ants

Forget aliens. Our world has been taken over by ants.

This morning my toddler has twice taken the brown sugar out of the fridge (where we keep it because of ants, in addition to the cereal, bread, flour, and just about every kind of food). And now that she’s sticky sweetness personified (not that she wasn’t already), I’m worried the ants are going to carry her off, too.

There are trails of ants marching around the sink, into the cupboards, through the trash can, around the living room floor, and on the dining room table. I’ve even found ants in the bed and in my girl’s stack of clean diapers. And I’ve definitely felt things crawling up my leg, though I’ve never seen them… No matter how many I kill, there are still an army of them remaining, just waiting for a few moments of peace to make their trail again.

This morning I was attacking the ants as just one more barrier towards my achieving Proverbs 31 Woman status. You know, that giant checklist of womanly goals that I haven’t even started checking through yet?

Then I took a closer look. You know, these ants have a thing up on me! They can check off a number of things on the checklist! After all, much of Proverbs 31 has to do with keeping busy, being productive, not being lazy, staying up late and getting up early. And those little ants meet all that criteria.

There's a reason Proverbs 6:6 says, "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!"

I will never get the Proverbs 31 thing figured out. But at least I can work on stamping out the evidences of laziness in my life.

And I've got something up on the ants, too. I've got the ability to simplify my life - to focus on the meaningful and not the peripheral, inconsequential... I don't have to spend my life running around in meaningless circles, avoiding the dishrag and checking out cupboards and drawers that have been totally wiped clean of anything edible. (Honest!)

Time is much too precious to waste, and I want my time on earth to count.