Oops there goes another rubber tree plant . . .

 Have you ever had one of those days when you think your life is small and has little or no meaning?  Ever feel like what you are doing doesn't make any difference to anyone?  Ever think that what you are facing is too big for you to handle?

Then grab your Bible and look up

Proverbs 6:6  Go to the ant, O lazy person. Watch and think about her ways, and be wise.

Considering the ant has helped me turn my wrong thinking right, so I want to share some facts about ants that you are welcome to fact check. 

“In many ways, ants can outwit, outlast, and outplay humans. Their complex, cooperative societies enable them to survive and thrive in conditions that would challenge the individual. Here are some fascinating facts about ants that just might convince you they're superior to us.”

1. Ants are capable of carrying objects 50 times their own body weight with their mandibles.  Ants use their diminutive size to their advantage. Relative to their size, their muscles are thicker than those of larger animals or even humans. This ratio enables them to produce more force and carry larger objects. If we had muscles in the proportions of ants, we'd be able to heave a Hyundai over our heads!  The real strength of an ant, or any insect for that matter, lies in its diminutive size. Generally speaking, the smaller the critter, the stronger it will be. It's physics, plain and simple.  The tiny ant has a strength advantage because of the ratio of surface area to volume.  An ant need only lift a small measure of its own weight relative to the strength.

Matthew 19:26  Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

2. Soldier ants use their heads to plug the entrances to their nests and keep intruders from gaining access.

In certain ant species, the soldier ants have modified heads, shaped to match the nest entrance. They block access to the nest by sitting just inside the entrance, with their heads facing out like a cork in a bottle. When a worker ant returns to the nest, it will touch the soldier ant's head to let the guard know it belongs to the colony.

Ezekiel 22:30 “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one.

3.  Acacia trees employ a complicated mutualism with ants to fend off large herbivores, like giraffes and elephants. Across the African savannah, Acacia trees offer shelter to three species of biting ants that live in their swollen thorns. The ants drink nectar from the base of the Acacia leaves. Should an elephant try to enjoy a snack on the tree's tender leaves and twigs, these highly territorial ants swarm the offender, driving the elephant away with vicious bites en masse.

Isaiah 54:17  no weapon forged against you will prevail,  and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.

4. The total biomass of all the ants on Earth is roughly equal to the total biomass of all the people on Earth.

How can this be?! Ants are so tiny, and we are so big! But scientists estimate there are at least 1.5 million ants on the planet for every human being. Over 12,000 species of ants are known to exist, on every continent except Antarctica. Most live in tropical regions. A single acre of Amazon rainforest may house 3.5 million ants.  http://insects.about.com/od/antsbeeswasps/a/10-cool-facts-about-ants.htm

2 Kings 6:16-17  He said, “Don’t worry about it—there are more on our side than on their side.”   Then Elisha prayed, “O God, open his eyes and let him see.”  The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!

You and I may seem small and our lives insignificant, BUT the truth is that with God we can move mountains, stand in the gap, drive off the enemy, and change the world for the glory of God.  We are not alone, but are a part of a heavenly army that is unstoppable.
  

Next time your found, with your chin on the ground

There's a lot to be learned, so look around

Just what makes that little old ant

Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant

Anyone knows an ant, can’t

Move a rubber tree plant

But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes

He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

So any time your gettin low

Stead of lettin go

Just remember that ant

Oops there goes another rubber tree plant!

Cahn/VanHeusen

Stay Healthy!

Beware!  It is that time of the year – the dreaded cold and flu season. The flu season seems to creep in around November and haunts us until March.  What happens in those months?  Nothing really sinister just that in those months our weather changes and we aren't able to get the vitamin D we need from the sun and our windows and doors are sealed against the cold air which makes the air in our homes drier. Then add the fact that kids are back in school crowded together in small class rooms sharing pencils, glue, scissors, and anything else you can imagine.  Now you have the perfect recipe for colds and flu.  I am trying to be proactive and get outside in the fresh air as much as possible, exercise every day, drink lots of orange juice, and I went and got my annual flu shot.  Take that dreaded cold and flu!

There are times in my spiritual life that I am more susceptible to getting spiritually sick.  There are those seasons of my life when change comes and my time to be with the Lord is stolen away.  There are times when I close myself off from others who would encourage me.  I become spiritually dry.  Unlike the physical, the spiritual man needs to be around others who will build him up. Bam!  You have the perfect recipe for the spiritual mulligrubs.   I know because I have had those times when I had no energy, no motivation, and I felt tired and run down.  I have had those times when spiritually I just wanted to stay in bed and hide under my nice warm covers.  Maybe I should try and be proactive in my spiritual life, as well as, my physical life. I think there are several things we can do to help prevent the spiritual blues.

Proverbs 17:22  A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

One of the easiest remedies for the spiritual blues is to laugh.  Studies have shown that laughter actually relaxes the body.  One of those deep belly laughs can actually relieve stress and relax your muscles for up to 45 minutes. Your immune system is known to respond to laughter.  A good laugh has the power to decrease stress hormones and increase immune cells.  Your infection-fighting antibodies are thrust into high gear making you more resistant to disease.  Your body’s natural feel-good endorphins are released to give your body a sense of well-being and can actually help relieve pain.  One of those good laughs can increase blood flow, improve how your blood vessels function, and even help protect you from a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.  Children do not have to be told to laugh it just comes naturally.  Studies have shown that kids laugh about 400 hundred times a day and as adults that number drops to 17.  That’s right I said 17.  I think we can do way better than that!

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Rejoicing is a preemptive strike against spiritual sickness.  When I feel down I need to rejoice.  When my soul feels sick, I need to rejoice.  No matter how bad I want to stay in bed and hide from the world, I need to rejoice.  The key to this rejoicing is that it is in the Lord.  I rejoice because He is my redeemer, my friend, my healer, my provider. I rejoice because the Lord is loving, kind, and good.  I rejoice because I am His daughter and He loves me, accepts me, and thinks I am wonderful.

Nehemiah 8:10  And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

Isaiah 12:3  With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!

Every day we should be feasting on the richness of God’s word and drinking from the wells of salvation.  We should be sharing God’s love with those who have nothing.  Just as in the natural I can take steps that will help ward off colds and the flu, I can take steps to stay spiritually healthy. 

Your prescription for today

1.  LAUGH!  You say you have nothing to laugh about.  Find something.  Watch reruns of "I Love Lucy."  Go to a park and sit and watch kids play.  Go to the zoo and look at a walrus.  Read a joke book. Laugh more than 17 times today.

2.  Rejoice in the Lord.  Make a gratitude list.  Tell the Lord why you love Him. 

3.  Feast today on God’s word and drink from the wells of salvation.

Inch by Inch

How long does it take the average person to go eighteen inches?  On your mark, get set, go.  Grab that high priced mathematical calculator and plug in some of those magical formulas and give me the answer down to the millisecond. How long could it possibly take?  One quick step and it is done.   The buzz words of our society are quick, easy, buy it now, one click shopping.  No waiting is music to our ears.  We like the drive through, on-line buying and shipped for free to our door.   So the answer to how long it should take the average person to go eighteen inches would be the snap of  your fingers, the blink of your eye, the swoosh of a hummingbird’s wings.   No time at all!

But wait, not so fast.  They say it is approximately eighteen inches from your head to your heart.  For over 50 years I have had the knowledge of God’s mercy in my head and yet, that truth has not completely found its way down those eighteen inches into my heart.  For over 50 years, I have had the glorious truth of God’s amazing grace and forgiveness firmly planted in my head and yet, I still do not walk in the freedom that I would know if that truth was totally transferred into my heart.  Now some might say that those are deep theological matters that it takes years to fully appreciate.  I can buy that, but what about the simpler things like don’t worry, no need to fear, or don’t judge.  I have not even managed to master the full eighteen inches in those areas.

    

Like I said, you would think that moving God's truth eighteen inches would be a quick and easy process.  Not so!  Satan does not care how many church services we go to or how many times we read our Bibles cover to cover.  He doesn't care how many Bible studies we go to or even teach.  There is no problem at all until we begin to ask the Lord to move the truth from our head to our hearts.  Those eighteen inches then become a battlefield.  We find God’s buzz words are patience and perseverance.  We hear the words wait on the Lord.  We discover Matthew 7:8  For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.  

So today I am asking the Holy Spirit to come and tutor me.  I want to move some truth from my head to my heart today.  How long will that take?  As long as is required.