GO TO THE ANT

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

-Proverbs 6:6-11 (NKJV)

The ant does what it must to survive when it must do it, it doesn’t wait until it feels like gathering food to actually gather the food, it gathers food in the harvest...when it is time to gather food. You won’t find the ant making excuses or finding reasons to sleep longer, hitting the snooze button on the alarm and rolling over for just a couple more minutes of sleep. Yet, I often find myself wanting to sleep just a few minutes more...usually because I haven’t gone to bed early enough the night prior. I struggle with staying up late and watching television with my husband. This creates a slippery slope for me, because I stay up late watching television, I find it difficult to wake up and get going in the morning so I sleep in until the last possible second and then I rush around trying to get everything done in a very small window of time. No wonder I feel stressed in the mornings. No wonder my life is in chaos, my house is in disarray, and I am always rushing to where I need to go. I am a sluggard, convicted of choosing sleep over not only my workouts, but time with the Lord! When I choose sleep, I fail to put the Lord first in my life; I fail to give Him my first fruits. The Lord has revealed to me that I must say “NO” to staying up late watching television with my husband for me to say “YES” to being healthy, to getting my workouts in and most importantly, to say “YES” to the Lord and the plan He has for my life.

After 13 years in the Health and Fitness field, I have heard all of the barriers, excuses, reasons people have for not exercising, for not eating right, etc. The funny thing is, now as a life coach I see those same reasons stopping people from being who they are truly longing to be and more importantly, being who God has called them to be. So often we choose to be the sluggard rather than the ant and we either sooth and comfort ourselves for making those choices with reasons or excuses for doing so or we beat ourselves up for it until we feel even more miserable. The irony is, few choose to take the steps necessary to change the destructive cycles they are in and whether they choose to comfort and sooth or choose to condemn their choices, it often leads right back to the same behaviors. I am sure you have heard the saying “Knowledge is Power,” well, having the knowledge does not give us the power nor the strength to change. Knowledge only tells us what we should do, it is up to us to decide what we do with that knowledge; it is up to us to take action and apply it to our life and get the support we need when we are weak. Knowledge is found in the Word and the strength when we are weak is found in the Lord. So, it ultimately comes down to this: knowing God’s Word by hearing and reading the Bible, taking action and applying the Word of God to our life, and turning to the Lord in prayer for support and strength when we are weak.

COACH'S CALL TO ACTION

• Where are you choosing to be the sluggard?
  
• What would the ant be doing differently?
  
• What action will you take today, this week to be more like the ant?
  
• How will you seek out support to give you strength when you are weak?

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