So I am sitting here watching tv, and there is a documentary on about ants. (Yes, laugh now at my geekness!) It is absolutely incredible! These little ants from Brazil strip trees of their foliage in days cutting the leaves into little shapes with their mandables and carry them 1/2 of a mile back to their home. It's incredible. The documentary shows you the whole process. But the ants don't eat the leaves, they use it to make fungus that they live off of. The whole deal is so crazy that neither organism (the fungus or the ants) can live without each other. And so I'm sitting here watching my geek tv, and totally in awe of God's creation. These leaves that the ants cut out are 10 times their size. They travel miles a day stripping these trees, going back and forth to their ant farms and God only knows when they stop! I'm lucky if I walk a mile a day taking the dog out 3 times a day!!!! Seriously! And I'm short, but ants are tiny! (Those on a diet can smack me later for making you feel guilty about that chocolate cake you ate last night.................oh wait............that was me!)
A while ago was Easter. I was pretty bummed cause we were supposed to watch "The Passion of the Christ" at church on Good Friday, but the worship team had to go to do this outreach. I'm a bad sport...I know. I just really wanted to see the movie. I don't think it's really registered what He did for me. Everyone else is all like really emotional over it and I am just so ignorant about it. And I can't stand ignorance. So I am feeling like this horrible Christian and blah blah blah and feeling horrible cause I don't know what my purpose is cause I mean come on, I stay at home and cook and clean and go online all day. That's all I do. I take care of the house. Compared to my dreams and goals 3 years ago or even 1 year ago, this is NOTHING like what I had in mind!!!! And then I was like "dangit Rachel! There is NOTHING wrong with what you're doing. I am contributing to the needs of the family. I'M A PART OF A FAMILY! And I'm helping out...pulling my own....just in a different way. Even everyone here will admit that they don't recognize the house. They don't know what to do when the dishes are done and the laundry is done at the same time! And I enjoy doing it. Seriously. I love cleaning and cooking. I suck at it and ruin dinner a lot of nights, but at least I try. And it provides us a lot of laughs later on even though at the time I want to scream. (Just don't ask about the lasagna, spaghetti, or potato dumplings!) I feel like I have a purpose in this somewhere. It seems small....it seems insignificant....it seems like an ant job. But maybe that's just the way God created me. To just help people out. My friend Ashley just had a baby. She has 2 people staying with her and her husband. Her husband won't help her with the baby or the housework. She is my age. And she is exhausted. So I offered to come help her. I didn't get an answer, but just the offer made her day infinitely better. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown 20 minutes ago. Now she's talking about slurpees. Is that insignificant? I think not. I have improved her outlook on life. In a way, I have helped improve her quality of life. She is happier. How many people can honestly say every day that they improve the quality of life for someone by being an ant? Can you?
I know of a lot of women who have struggled with insignificance. They get an education because they don't want to be thought of as stupid. They push their way into the corporate world and kill themselves working ungodly hours so that they can feel better about themselves and feel like they are contributing. Some of them really do get fulfillment in their busy, on-the-go lives....but I think the majority don't. And it's not just women. Men struggle with it too. They want to know that their families need them. Not just want them, but need them. We are all guilty of feeling insignificant at one point or another. Yesterday I wrote about kinda the same thing. But now today I'm seeing it all in a brighter light. Nobody and nothing is (are) insignificant. Especially not to Jesus. Those people that I'd rather not deal with....they are significant. They have a role to play. Even if it's to annoy the hell out of me, they have a roll. And Jesus died for them too. He created them with the same twinkle in His eye as He did when He made me.....granted that later on it turned into a grimace and then that "oh Me....I think I might vomit" look....there was still a twinkle there for a while! So if you, like me, are having those days where you feel insignificant, go back and read Psalm 139. Even us "ants" have a purpose.
~Sunshyne~
A while ago was Easter. I was pretty bummed cause we were supposed to watch "The Passion of the Christ" at church on Good Friday, but the worship team had to go to do this outreach. I'm a bad sport...I know. I just really wanted to see the movie. I don't think it's really registered what He did for me. Everyone else is all like really emotional over it and I am just so ignorant about it. And I can't stand ignorance. So I am feeling like this horrible Christian and blah blah blah and feeling horrible cause I don't know what my purpose is cause I mean come on, I stay at home and cook and clean and go online all day. That's all I do. I take care of the house. Compared to my dreams and goals 3 years ago or even 1 year ago, this is NOTHING like what I had in mind!!!! And then I was like "dangit Rachel! There is NOTHING wrong with what you're doing. I am contributing to the needs of the family. I'M A PART OF A FAMILY! And I'm helping out...pulling my own....just in a different way. Even everyone here will admit that they don't recognize the house. They don't know what to do when the dishes are done and the laundry is done at the same time! And I enjoy doing it. Seriously. I love cleaning and cooking. I suck at it and ruin dinner a lot of nights, but at least I try. And it provides us a lot of laughs later on even though at the time I want to scream. (Just don't ask about the lasagna, spaghetti, or potato dumplings!) I feel like I have a purpose in this somewhere. It seems small....it seems insignificant....it seems like an ant job. But maybe that's just the way God created me. To just help people out. My friend Ashley just had a baby. She has 2 people staying with her and her husband. Her husband won't help her with the baby or the housework. She is my age. And she is exhausted. So I offered to come help her. I didn't get an answer, but just the offer made her day infinitely better. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown 20 minutes ago. Now she's talking about slurpees. Is that insignificant? I think not. I have improved her outlook on life. In a way, I have helped improve her quality of life. She is happier. How many people can honestly say every day that they improve the quality of life for someone by being an ant? Can you?
I know of a lot of women who have struggled with insignificance. They get an education because they don't want to be thought of as stupid. They push their way into the corporate world and kill themselves working ungodly hours so that they can feel better about themselves and feel like they are contributing. Some of them really do get fulfillment in their busy, on-the-go lives....but I think the majority don't. And it's not just women. Men struggle with it too. They want to know that their families need them. Not just want them, but need them. We are all guilty of feeling insignificant at one point or another. Yesterday I wrote about kinda the same thing. But now today I'm seeing it all in a brighter light. Nobody and nothing is (are) insignificant. Especially not to Jesus. Those people that I'd rather not deal with....they are significant. They have a role to play. Even if it's to annoy the hell out of me, they have a roll. And Jesus died for them too. He created them with the same twinkle in His eye as He did when He made me.....granted that later on it turned into a grimace and then that "oh Me....I think I might vomit" look....there was still a twinkle there for a while! So if you, like me, are having those days where you feel insignificant, go back and read Psalm 139. Even us "ants" have a purpose.
~Sunshyne~