Wednesday, February 14, 2007

snow day

You know when you’re at the beach, sitting on one of those nice relaxing armchairs, and then an ant crawls up your leg? You look down, see a few straggling ants carrying grains of sand and you get this urge to just dump a pile of sand on them? You start with a light sprinkle, which they (almost arrogantly) ignore, and then the sand in your hand starts to spill out a little faster.. amazingly, they can keep working- popping up within seconds of being covered. Then, you just can’t help it- you cover them about a mile deep (in the ant’s eyes)
-you just go and dump your whole hand full of sand on their little bodies- sit back, and see how long it will take them to struggle to the surface.

God has just dumped a pile of snow on us. I'm not sure why, but it reminds me of ants on a beach. Like tiny ants we have furiously worked to swish away the snow that He started sprinkling. Some of us are annoyed by it, some delight in it, and others are just hoping for a friggen snow day. Then God’s hand opened up a little- the snow came a little faster- and our working forces went into high gear. Just picture us from God’s eye view—what little warriors-with our trucks out plowing, frantically clearing roads all through the night- but the work is tedious, because the snow just keeps coming..Now, what got me thinking is this: would God ever open up His hand entirely? What if the snow never stopped?? There is only so much the ant can do before he realizes he’s done for- he can only do so much--

It’s kind of crazy to think about. We can’t ‘turn on’ a blizzard, and we most definitely cannot turn it off. God is in charge of that stuff. The elements are at His beck and call… and who’s to say He won’t get that urge to just bury us? Well, I suppose the Bible lets us know He won’t. He knows when enough is enough. He’s the kind of God that sits in the armchair at the beach, and (assuming He is even able to pour too much sand) brushes the sand away to make sure the ant makes it back into the sunshine.
I think it’s important to really think about that. The concept behind this is that God is 100% in control- even though we like to think we are. This snowstorm (for some) is a rude awakening to the reality that there are just some things out of our control. We are so helpless!

So- ya, if God wanted He could bury us with snow, but He loves us enough that at just the right time, He squeezes His hand tight- and we always trust that He will. Now we need to sit back and thank God He is in charge…. And pray that He sends a few more feet of snow to secure that snow day..

9 comments:

Robyn deGroot said...

you are a cruel, cruel person. Poor ants. We are very lucky you aren't God.

Katrina VandenBerg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rebecca said...

oh Robyn- do ants really care? They don't have souls-- and i'm sure they love the challenge- But you are right.. can you imagine what life would be like for D37 if I was in charge of the universe? scary...

Katrina VandenBerg said...

ahhhhh!! the very thought scares me to death.
question: why are ants scared of sand, can't they just dig their way out?

Rebecca said...

could we dig ourselves out of never ending snow?? i'm talking miles deep.. but then again, it's totally different. We don't have 6 legs to work with :)

Katrina VandenBerg said...

and we don't have sand gills that can extract oxygen from the kernels of sand.

don't worry not very many people know that aspect of ants. it a common mistake, don't beat yourself up about it.

Conny said...

Hey Ree,
How r u doing... great writing... love reading what you have to say..You have inspired me to start writing as well but more in a journel form... truely am loving it...
I have one question.. I am trying to get doug's blog site but have been unsuccessfull... any hints as to how I can log on... thanks....
take care sweetie

Rebecca said...

ya sure, just check out djsikkema.blogspot.com, and it should work-

mike said...

i always stepped on the beach ants