The Ant and the Grasshopper

April 2, 2019

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Deuteronomy 21-22, Luke 9:51-62, Psalms74, Proverbs 12:11

The fable writer, Aesop, was a slave and story teller who lived between 620-564 BC in Ancient Greece (according to Wikipedia). I grew up with a hardback red book that had his stories with colorful pictures. One that comes to mind today is that of "The Ant and the Grasshopper." The basic summary: the ant works and works all summer long gathering and storing food for the cold and scarce winter months that are ahead. Meanwhile, the violin playing grasshopper enjoys days of leisure, fun, and everything else but work, during those beautiful days. Winter finally comes around and the ant is well fed, warm, and serving well. The grasshopper, on the other hand has nothing to eat, cold, and not likely to survive the rest of the season. There is more to the story, but the moral is very closely tied to what King Solomon said in Proverbs
12:11, "Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense."

Our society and the American dream champions those fantasies of success, wealth, comfort, or becoming the next American Idol. Our youth are focused on becoming the next YouTube sensation. We encourage our youth to "chase fantasies" and to follow your dreams. I'm not saying that's wrong or a myth, but The part that's missing is all the hard work that must be put in place to achieve that goal. There is sadly a sense of entitlement that too many have: it will all be handed to them. This proverb is a reminder that we must work the land for the harvest and food to come.

I come from a family of hard and dedicated workers. Work ethic was instilled at a young age and that's one reason I can count the number of sick days I've used, and the success I've had. The other big (and most important reason) is because I also learned early off that in everything, it should always be done to the glory of God. That means in the work place where I cleaned drains, steamed milk, put on a happy face, had to deal with employee issues, call outs, etc.... how to do all the yucky stuff to the best of my ability because it honored God and I am called to do all to His glory? I had to look at work Biblically. Again, this verse is a reminder that work = blessings, but remember to take it A step more. When done for the glory of God.