Thoughts for the Day

Go to the ant, you lazybones;
consider its ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief
or officer, or ruler,
it prepares its food in summer,
and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
How long will you lie there,
O lazy-bones?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want, like an armed warrior.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

My husband and I were posted to Cyprus a year after we were married. We both worked and would be on the beach by 1.30pm most days. However, the first night was a nightmare. I spent the whole night with my head over the edge of the bed watching the cockroaches coming out from behind a huge wardrobe, and the trail of ants coming in through the window. In due course we moved to a second-floor flat by the beach and the ants disappeared, although the flying cockroaches never disappeared, and when you put the light on at night, the tiled floor with its its brown "blobby" pattern would move (ie some were cockroaches). During the first couple of nights in Famagusta, however, I had considerable time to watch the ants as they marched back and forward and to admire their organisation.

The Book of Proverbs is a collection of practical instructions for living, often with short and memorable statements. It's part of a wider body of wisdom literature that includes Psalms, Ecclesiastes and Job, and we still use many of the sayings. Today's proverb, about laziness, can apply to all of us at some time in our life, particularly if we don't have a job or are retired, and have no purpose in life. But it can also apply to us when we think about our faith. Is it easier to stay in bed on a Sunday, or not set aside time for private prayer and study? Like the ants, we have to stir ourselves for there is no-one to to force us into action - only our conscience, and our promises made to God at our Baptism and/or Confirmation.

Heavenly Father,
may we learn from others
and from the animal world,
to stir ourselves
and organise our life
to include You
as well as the things
of the world.
Amen,