Here in Brazil, there are these ants called Army Ants. They’re bigger than your average ants and they always travel in large groups. Sometimes as we’re driving down the mountain we’ll see something laying across the road that looks like a black rope, or something, when in fact it’s a huge group of these Army Ants (literally thousands of them) traveling side-by-side in a long line- going wherever their going.
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| Here's an example of some of the ants on our road the other day |
Well, we’ve always heard that if they ever come into your house it’s best to just let them go where they're going (in these long lines) and not to disturb them. Just let them run their course and then they'll leave when their done because they never stay long. No biggie.
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| An Army Ant eating a baby caterpillar. Great, huh? |
But here’s the problem with that- I don’t want thousands of giant ants marching through my house, like they own the joint, doing whatever they want and then leaving when they feel like it. I don’t know… just call me crazy, I guess.
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| A close up shot of these ants. They're like regular ants on steroids! |
The other night Me and MJ were tag-teaming making dinner when, all of the sudden, I looked and there are hundreds of these Army Ants marching in a line in through the kitchen window and onto the counter. No way! So I quickly closed the window (cutting their line off) and I grabbed a can of bug spray and started to spray all the ants that were in the house. BAM! Take that Army Ants: )
Then I went outside to spray any of them that might be out there too. When I got to the outside of the kitchen window that’s when I saw it… a long line of Army Ants (made up of literally thousands of ants) that ran the entire length of the house. It was like an ant super-highway.
So I started spraying this long line of ants that ran the entire length of the house and when I rounded the corner of the house, reaching the other side- I could see that the line continued with thousands more of these stupid things! I yelled inside to MJ (who was inside still working on dinner) to throw me another can of bug spray out the window. She did and I continued spraying.
It was dark but I could see at this point that the line continued up the wall and toward the second story of the house. So I stood on the ground and just aimed my can of spray upward- killing all the ants that I could reach.
After about 10 minutes I went back inside (into the kitchen) feeling pretty good about killing all the ants when I heard Maryssa yell out, “Dad there’s ants upstairs!” So I ran upstairs with my partial can of bug spray to save the day: )
She was upstairs watching TV in the dark and could see ants on the wall (because the TV was illuminating them). So I ran over to the wall and sprayed the ants that I could see. They weren't in ‘one of their long lines’ though. They were all just frantically scurrying around. Hmmm. That’s weird.
So I flipped the lights on and… OMG! There were tens of thousands of ants all over the walls and I was standing in a sea of black (thousands of angry Army Ants!) that had almost covered the entire floor. I stomped and sprayed (kinda freaking out, actually) and stomped and sprayed. I ran out of spray (again) and ran into Matthew’s room and grabbed another can (that he had next to his bed) and returned to stomping and spraying. There were so many ants that mere words can’t express how freaky it was. It was mass chaos, for sure. They were everywhere. Put it this way- there were so many ants that I couldn't even take a break from spraying to even go and grab my phone to take a picture! I was afraid that if I stopped for even a moment that they would totally take over our entire house- there were that many ants.
Well, after what seemed like an eternity, I finally sprayed/stomped/killed all the ants. It was exhausting. Really. It was like one of the plagues of Egypt or something, for real. And as I started to sweep all the dead ant carcasses into a big pile I thought about what we had always heard- “if those ants come in your house just let them do what they're gonna do and don't mess with them. They'll leave.” OK, lesson learned.
But, you know, I think there’s a spiritual application to this as well. Because the same thing can be said about different tests/trials that come into our lives. James 1:2-4 says,
“Count it all joy, brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have it’s full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
You see, typically when we face different trials in our lives, the first thing we do is look for the escape hatch. But God is telling us (through James) that we need to let the trial produce steadfastness (which is "a life of faithful endurance amid troubles and afflictions") and to let it have it’s full effect (aka- run it’s course) in our lives. Because that thing, if left undisturbed, it will perfect us once it’s reached the end.
So, running from a trial, insulating myself from a trial (with whatever) or trying to end a trial in my timing is equivalent to me seeing the ants and trying to get them to leave on my terms and not theirs- it doesn't produce the best outcome. I just need to wait it out and let it run it’s course. Easier said then done though, huh?
What about you? Do you try to end/escape a trial rather than just letting it run it’s course in your life? If so, the outcome's never what’s best for you and you’ll probably face the same test again- guaranteed. Just like trying me trying to get the ants to leave on my terms. It would've been better to just let them “run their course” and then I could've just moved on. Oh well…
Still Learning,
Jim
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