Personal note: Early yesterday morning my (Stephen) brother Mike came in from California. We picked him up at the Baltimore airport at 5:00am. Yesterday was his 80th birthday! Over the next several weeks we will likely be unable to post new messages every weekday as we normally try to do. On Friday my sister is coming up from Florida. My other brother Pat and his wife Laverne live within two hours drive in Easton, PA and will join us as well over the weekend. The following weekend we will be heading to Wisconsin for a reunion with my Steincross cousins from Mom's side.

Message summary: Pennsylvanian Benjamin Franklin observed that "None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing". Solomon wrote, "Consider its ways and be wise". Have you heard the ant preach?

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"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). "Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer" (Proverbs 30:25).

Due to the excess rain over several weeks we now have an ant problem in our house. Earwigs, fond of moist conditions, are plenteous this year and have also sneaked in our house. Earwigs like to eat plants and flowers but are most often seen after dark so Brooksyne goes out with a flashlight and deals with the critters on her favorite flowers. Though they have value in nature we prefer not to provide a comfortable home for the ants or earwigs. So Brooksyne is using several mitigation efforts but ants are persistent. Today we will seek to learn some lessons from our ant problem!

When I first considered writing this message I recalled a Geico commercial from several years ago but it was about an aunt problem featuring a young couple who had aunts who loved to visit and were rather annoying. It's quite humorous. (See video below). Now I am at the point in life where all my aunts are gone, although Brooksyne still has several living from both the Sherrells (her dad's side) and Dorseys (her mom's side).

Today we will consider the ant (not aunt), though the fertile ant population probably does have aunts and uncles as well! King Solomon draws some illustrative material from ants and we find in his observation another timeless lesson from God's Word. Solomon said "go" and "consider", encouraging his readers to observe up close the day to day habits of the ants. Written some 3,000 years ago we can still follow Solomon's  directions today since, wherever you live, unless you're in the Antarctica, you can heed Solomon's ancient consideration. You rarely have to go out of your way to see ants since, regardless of where you may live, ants also inhabit nearby.

Myrmecology is a branch of entomology (study of insects) focusing on the scientific study of ants. Yes, there are biologists who actually specialize in the study of ants, the most famous being the late A.O. Wilson who in 1990 wrote a 746 page book titled "The Ants"! I see it's available online for $356.98!

Ants are found virtually everywhere on earth. The total biomass of all the ants on earth is roughly equal to the total biomass of all the people on earth. 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 rain forest may house 3.5 million ants, just in case you ever wondered! *

But taking the time to "consider" the ant's ways takes some effort. Solomon was very good at that for we read, "He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish" (1 Kings 4:33). Apparently he had also spent some time observing ants. Pennsylvanian Benjamin Franklin observed that "none preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing" so let us consider the preaching of the ant today:

So in dealing with our ants as a problem we also need to "consider its ways and be wise". Have you observed any ants lately? Are not all these characteristics needed in our lives today as we seek to be wise in God's estimation?

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber