Life In ‘Him’ - Are We Ants Or Sluggards?

^{My 3 older kids have been off track lately. So have I. This home has been pure chaos for some reason. Kids arguing with each other, kids arguing with me, everyone needs an attitude adjustment.  We are having BIG issues with chores & a lot of disrespect going on. Total opposite of cooperation.}

^{I finally decided the other day to put a stop to the chaos. I’m not quite sure how, but I am going to give it a shot. For starters we are going to start reading the Word more often. Especially since the kids are not in Sunday School very often anymore.}

^{So. What to read? {Lord give me something that we all need right now} I decided on Proverbs 10 which is about Wisdom/fools, righteous/wicked, it touches on the tongue/lips/heart, hate/love… At every sentence we stopped to discuss and apply it to our lives. Then it hit me when we read verse 16 &17:}

The labor of the righteous leads to life,
      The wages of the wicked to sin. 
He who keeps instruction is in the way of life,
      But he who refuses correction goes astray.

Those words… labor, instruction and correction! This is what we have been having problems with. Now granted, these two verses are WAY deeper than that but I can TOTALLY apply it to where I need it, right? These two verses made me think of Proverbs 6 when it compares the ant to the sluggard… So we turned to that & read:

^{Proverbs 6:6-11}

⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard!
      Consider her ways and be wise,
⁷ Which, having no captain,
      Overseer or ruler,
⁸ Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
⁹ How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
      When will you rise from your sleep?
¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
      A little folding of the hands to sleep—
¹¹ So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
      And your need like an armed man.

Now after reading each verse we discussed what it meant. Austin, Emma & Becca were totally ‘in’ to this discussion. I explained the notes (commentary) in my bible that describe an ant like this:

15 ways of ants:

1. Most laborious insects in existence
2. Most highly industrialized
3. Collect food in proper seasons
4. Fondly attached to the young
5. Have keen foresight for others
6. Work quietly without show
7. Work unweariedly until work is done
8. Work together in astonishing systems of organization to the best good of the whole community
9. Are ingenious carpenters and masons, building their own system of homes and underground tunnels
10. Keep their homes scrupulously clean
11. No one among the exists without a definite job in life to help meet the needs of the community
12. Fight to death to protect their own homes and young from enemies
13. Their social life compares with that of human beings in many respects
14. They are intelligent and wise
15. They carry out life’s work without being forced to do so by a guide, overseer, or ruler

So when we were reading that list we discussed our lives here as a family. It really opened their eyes to what they do or don’t do around the house.

The next thing I wanted to do - was flip this backwards. We looked at ants – now lets look at sluggards! The Hebrew word “atsel” translates into ‘slothful’ or ‘sluggard’.

Here are 18 facts about sluggards:

1. They are unteachable, careless, and indifferent
2. Love excessive sleep
3. Irritating to others
4. Too lazy to cook food
5. Servants to others
6. Wishful thinkers
7. Life full of troubles
8. Great wasters
9. Are lazy
10. Refuse to work
11. Make the most of senseless excuses for their laziness
12. Are void of understanding
13. Permit property to ruin
14. Too lazy to move themselves
15. Are conceited
16. Unfaithful to trust
17. Are unbelievers
18. Lack business ability

Again we discussed each one on the list & tried to fit it into each of our lives individually and also as a family. It actually was fun. We were kinda teasing each other. We were all laughing. Then we tried to figure out how we can become more like ants and less like sluggards.

It was a good lesson. The funny thing now is when someone does something ‘lazy-ish’ around the house, they get called a sluggard.

Great! Not exactly what I had in mind. I guess they learned something… but I didn’t expect them to use it against each other.

Lovely.

Now they are all quote Proverbs 6:9, “How long will you sleep, O sluggard?”

Funny!