With the extreme heat of July, we have already had one battle with ants. Every summer it seems no matter what precautions we take, when we have either extreme dry heat or extreme rain, we have a day when ants invade our home.  (It usually happens when a dish of dry dog food is out.) Coupled with a morning of cleaning and spraying more insecticides and a story from Zoo Atlanta about their new baby sloth – I began to think of the vast differences in the two species.  Thus began my research.  

The most common “house ant” measures about 1/8th of an inch in length.  But my goodness, when they were marching in lines coming and going from the dog food bowl last week, with one line carrying bits of food out, they looked like one very long ant!  Research tells me that on a daily basis one ant walks about 300 feet (one football field length) to find and return with food!  That is equal to 450 times its size!  Compare that to the sloth, who in average is 24 inches tall, and travels no more than 120 feet per day.  That is only 60 times as long as the average sloth.  HMMM. Ants definitely travel farther in both distance and in comparison to their size! 

Ants work together to seek, find, and retrieve food for storage during the summer so that there is ample food for their nest during the colder months.  Sloths, sleep for about 15 hours per day and live in Central & South America.  Ants on the other hand, live on six of the seven continents. The only one ants don’t live on is Antarctica.  Isn’t it a bit ironic that continent has a name that begins with the word “ant”?  Ants live in colonies of up to 100,000 ants.  Sloths live basically solitary lives in very small “snuggles” – from 10-40 per group.  

All this research was done simply to consider – which I am most like?  The bible tells us to look to the ants and not to be slothful.  I admit that I am nowhere near the ant I should be, but feel that I am not as slothful as possible either.  My mind is always racing to and fro like an ant, but my body does like being slothful during my summer break from work!  My goal is to become more and more like an ant though!  While I know the Bible also tells us there is a time to rest, I know I need to be more productive in my activities!  

Which creature are you more like?  An ant or a sloth???

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.  Romans 12:11

Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer; Proverbs 30:25