After a grand-canyon gap, I've decided to pick up my pen and write again. For the past month, I have heard the words of an ancient Israelite king speaking in my psyche,
"Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider it's ways and be wise. The ant has no guide, overseer, or ruler. The ant provides its meat in the summer, gathers its food in the harvest. How long will you sleep, o sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a litte folding of the hands to sleep: So shall your poverty come as one that travels, and your want as an armed man."
My initial response was to pick up that old black Book and read from the 6th Proverb, sentence six through eleven. I read it in black and white. Then, I re-read that paragraph from Hebrew to English. It stung like Daddy's swat. Ouch! Then I reacted...sluggard? What do you mean...sluggard?!?! Any comment that starts with slug is definitely not a cozy compliment. No. It's a straight forward kick in the pants.
I asked old Noah Webster his perspective on the subject of a sluggard. My correction became clearer than a crystal drinking glass of Rocky Mountain spring water. In 1828, Mr. Webster wrote that a sluggard is a noun made up of two words: Slug and slow kind. A sluggard is a person who is habitually lazy, idle, and inactive. A drone. Essentially, a heavy, lazy fellow that's slower than a slug.
My male ego was deflated like a droopy balloon, hanging from the snout of Eyore the donkey ("O-Bawther"). But, I chose to take action with this breathe of Oxygen. My wife and I rallied the children into our Suburban School Bus and drove to the local home education store to purchase supplies for our new project: a miniture ant observatory. 21 worker ants arrived in the mail yesterday. Today, I'm an ant farmer.
Comments
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by grace4gayle
Aren't the ants just amazing! I keep waiting to catch them resting but they just NEVER stop! I can't wait to hear what you've learned from them. No doubt it will be deep and reflective.
Love ya Babe!
Thursday, March 1, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by TC
I'll pay you $100 if you'll train your ants to be warrior ants and then send them to me to kill off all the fire ants in our yard.
Thursday, March 1, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by TOSPUBLISHER
Do you have brand your ants? How do you keep the horses from stepping on them during an ant drive? Enjoyed reading your blog and the lesson laid out in this post!
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
Friday, March 2, 2007 - Don't let the top off!
Posted by homebydesign
That's what my dh said when I read your post to him, "Don't let the top off!"
Hmmm...I concur.
Just visiting your blog cause your wife told me to (so influential am I that I take direction from the blog of a person I don't know!).
Saturday, March 3, 2007 - Congratulations!
Posted by EncourageYou
Way to go! Good to hear from you again. By the way, I'd like to hear how the ant farm thing goes. We tried Sea Monkeys once, never again. How about those ants?
Monday, March 5, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by SeekingJESUSnTeachingKIDS
We just did a little study on Ants for school. It's amazing the Biblical prespectives you can get from an ant. We talked about working for the kingdom of God, team work, being dedicated to the queen ant (God), how we need to be working on growing as a Christian and not staying the same and more. And for fun I got some fun ant stories from the library. I hope the ants work out. We have a "grow a frog" right now.
:>Michelle
Monday, March 5, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Rachelle
Great post...loved how you laid out what you're learning right now.
Good luck with the ants! I'm not sure if I have what it takes to let my boys explore the joys of an ant farm yet. You're a brave man. LOL :-)
3knightsandaprincess.blogspot.com
Monday, March 5, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by CountryMomof4
An ant farmer eh? Your Gabe must be better behaved than mine. I wouldn't dare risk a container filled with bugs in my house with my four year old ball of mischief.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by EEEEMommy
So is that the cure for laziness? An ant farm, because if it is, I'll set ours up again in an instant? :)
Application of the head knowledge is the challenge in these parts!