FAITHFUL WITH NANO

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They look so teensy-weensy. Would they be of any benefit at all?

I'm referring to ants. King Solomon, always referred to as the wisest man who ever lived, was suppose to have said:

"Go to the ant, you, sluggard, consider its ways and be wise. It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provision in summer and gathers food at harvest" (Proverbs 6:6).

Well, if anybody else said that, it would just have entered my ear and out the other. But it was Solomon, the smartest man who ever lived. Could anyone take this guy's words sitting down?

So to Google anthill I clambered and found these:

*Ants live in highly organized territories. Cool, considering that they might not have brains. Imagine, no leader, yet functioning like clockwork! And we've not seen any bundy clocks or traffic lights in their routes either.

*Ants have no hearts and no lungs but have complicated nervous systems. It seems we're the ones without---at the rate we squish them to micro-smithereens with our bare fingers.

*Most ant species have poor eyesight but have antennae for detecting pheromone, their ant-to-ant equivalent of a cellphone. I wonder if they use cell sites to make them work.

*But they're gifted with strong jaws. This is where ant power lies. Ants use jaw stingers to kill prey and protect their nests.

One of the ant's most amazing talents: They know how to labor! (Which we couldn't say of sluggards or lazy folks who just want to lie around, waiting for someone to bring food to their mouths.)

Worker ants spend their first few days caring for the young and queen. More mature ants get promoted to digging and other nest work. And then a step higher once they start foraging for food.

In antland, that's a landmine of an assignment---much like being sent to Afghanistan or Tawi-tawi to battle with terrorists and insurgents. This is the most dangerous and deadly stage. Because it's when they forage that they get exposed to animals or humans who are just nasty, wiping them off the face of the earth, er, desserts. (So the next time you see them carrying a nano pinch of sugar, have pity. The colony awaits that!)

As ants search for food and meet obstacles, they explore new routes, leaving pheromone trails for the rest of the pack.

To protect themselves from flooding, ants build elaborate structures at the colony's entrance. In four-season countries, ants sleep the sleep of the just come winter time. A swell treat for a mountain of a tiny job.

I wrote about ants in my first book, "Sorry to Burst Your Bubble: Life Leadership Lessons from the Greatest Dreamer," (NewDay Publishers, available at National Bookstores) to capture through a simple metaphor, the need to be faithful with little tasks and to persevere to do good in spite of obstacles.

I started meditating on the topic again as I prepared recently for a bible study for my worshiper friends.

Come to think of it, our lives would be a real worship unto God if we faithfully fulfill our roles---no matter how simple they are. Be not only hearers, but also be doers of the Word, says Jesus.

Nano-sized ants know that.