A Prayer During an Invasion of Ants

Remembering to care about small things, too

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
    consider its ways and be wise!
 It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
    and gathers its food at harvest.
~Proverbs 6:6-8

Yesterday, we awoke to an army of tiny ants swarming our kitchen counter by the sink. We swept them away with damp paper towels and deluges of water from the faucet. These weapons were far too weak for such a formidable foe, however. The ant traps from the local drugstore proved useless. All day we waged war, and this morning found the enemy had rallied more troops and continued the relentless onslaught as we slept. We will have to match their determination by bringing in a bigger weapon– the pest control guy. I hope this isn’t the start of an arms race.

I am committed to eradicating the ants in my house through means God has given, but sadly I didn’t think about a better strategy until this morning, as I swept ants off my hands periodically, finding them crawling on me when I took a brief respite. Why didn’t I think first to pray?

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Photo by Stephanie LeBlanc on Unsplash

Here is my prayer during this ant invasion¹:

Dear God,

I know you remind us in Proverbs to “Go to the ant.,” but it doesn’t say anything about the ant coming to us and invading our clean kitchens and making our skin crawl, even when we try to fall asleep. Help me, Lord, to learn something from these tiny creatures and their uninvited presence in my home. Please don’t let the lesson be about hospitality. Maybe I’m meant to learn that you are sovereign over the smallest things, even–especially?–the annoying ones. Maybe, too, I do need to go to the ant², be more observant and mindful of smalll things, pondering them, so you don’t need to get my attention in such a dramatic way and I can fall asleep without scratching.

Amen.

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It is important to “slow down and notice” (something I tell my clients often). Mindful awareness is a way to gain control of racing thoughts, and to recenter your body when you feel internal chaos. Here are some “small things” you can notice, that people often overlook:

• The feelings of discomfort or pain or tension in your body

• The expression and body language of the person you are in conversation with

• The taste of the food you are eating…savor it!

• The heartbeat of the one you are hugging, the warmth of their embrace

• Your own breath, breathing more deeply in and slowly out

• Your body in relationship to the space it inhabits (proprioception); feel the seat underneath you, your feet on the floor

• Look at your own hand carefully, examining veins, freckles, knuckles, nails, so you can truthfully say you know something “like the back of my hand”

• Go outside and notice things far away (clouds and their shapes, different kinds of trees) then things close to you (leaves on plants, colors of buildings, flowers, rocks), describing those things out loud to yourself or another person

  

1. This is an homage to the funny and poignant book by the late Brian Doyle, 100 Celebrations of the Miracle & Muddle of the Ordinary.

2. I would like to point out, however, that “go to the ant” does not have to mean God expects us to work like ants in order to please Him. That is antithetical to the gospel of grace. God gives us His entire creation as a good gift of natural revelation (versus the “special revelation” of His written Word), so that we can learn more about Him and His care for us. Ants are creatures that can teach us wisdom about cooperation, the benefits of working to provide for what we need in the proper season, and the way even tiny things can accomplish great things beyond what you might expect. They are teaching me patience right now.