Pausing for a split second, I happened to glance at an ant on the wall. My first reaction was immediately to get rid of him, but I resisted this urge out of curiosity. I simply wanted to see where he was going and what he would do once he got there. Taking a seat on the floor, I watched this little black figure walk hesitantly up the wall, stopping every few seconds to glance about him. Finally, he seemed sure that he wanted to go to the top of the wall, so, zooming speedily along, he continued to make his way up the wall. Once he had reached the top, this little guy stopped to consider his options. It seemed he had forgotten why he wanted to get to the top, and, decided that, instead, the bottom of the wall looked much nicer. So, turning his body around, he started at a slower pace down the wall. This loop went on for seemingly forever, though, in reality, only a few short minutes. At arriving at the bottom of the wall, he turned straight around and made a bees line for the top, after the top turned straight around and made a bees line for the bottom. Finally, I let my cruelty take over and killed the pitiful thing.
This small black ant seemed, even to himself, to have no purpose in life. All he knew to do was, once stuck inside a room with the door shut, climb up and down the wall. He couldn’t make up his mind where to go. The instant he was on one side, he decided he wanted to be on the other. Thus, shifting constantly, he was walking in circles and getting no where.
Don’t we do the same sometimes? At times, we feel invigorated in our faith--ready to live every second for Christ! And yet, at other times, we feel dull and ordinary, not exactly determined to live for Christ. Revelation 3:15-16 says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Similarly, like the ant, we can’t decide which side to be on. So we end up being between as a compromise. We don’t want to be on one side and stay there! But this verse strongly makes its point, it’s better to be hot or cold than in between. Just like that ant--what’s the purpose of wandering from side to side?
Kayla Joy
