Go to the ant, you lazy one!
By Hope
@1hopefulman (45120)
Canada
November 16, 2019 11:25am CST
Have you ever heard someone use the expression: "Go to the ant, you lazybones (sluggard, slacker) or some variation of it?
This is an ancient proverb which may have been used by parents to encourage their children to be industrious and not to be lazy.
Maybe you have watched ants and been fascinated with how busy they seem to be. There may be some species of ants that do not even sleep.
Proverbs 6:6-8 The Voice (VOICE)
6 Take a lesson from the ant, you who love leisure and ease.
Observe how it works, and dare to be just as wise.
7 It has no boss,
no one laying down the law or telling it what to do,
8 Yet it gathers its food through summer
and takes what it needs from the harvest.
The whole idea is for people to lead an active busy life where they work hard and save some money for future hard days.
Ants are also known for their persistence, determination, strength, cooperation, and cleanliness. Yes, there is much we can learn from the lowly ant.
The next time you see an ant, take a moment to appreciate some of its fine characteristics and see how you can imitate and benefit by copying them?
8 people like this
7 responses
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
16 Nov 19
I am always busy and I thank God every single day for giving me an industrious spirit and the body to be able to use to be so.
3 people like this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
16 Nov 19
So, you are just the ants that God wants us to observe and imitate and have no lazy bones at all! 
.
.2 people like this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
16 Nov 19
@TiarasOceanView Maybe you are storing the fat. You will do well in times of famine! 
2 people like this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
23 Nov 19
@JudyEv Really? Are you sure?
So, the male just spends his time looking pretty?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (340118)
• Rockingham, Australia
21 Nov 19
@1hopefulman From what I've read, the lionesses do almost all the hunting.
1 person likes this
@buenavida (9984)
• Sweden
17 Nov 19
I heard an expression like that when I was young..these animals are really working hard and can be good examples for us humans
2 people like this
@toniganzon (72281)
• Philippines
18 Nov 19
I hate sleeping, well over sleeping, for the reason that I hate being lazy.
2 people like this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
23 Nov 19
@toniganzon It seems also to me that the reasonable and healthy thing to do is to sleep at night to heal and recharge.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72281)
• Philippines
21 Nov 19
@1hopefulman Yes and I really hate wasting time and I believe sleeping is a waste. Unless it's done during night time to recharge our energy.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
18 Nov 19
My Father used to tell me this Aesop's Fable about the ant.
The Ants & the Grasshopper
One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat.
"What!" cried the Ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?"
"I didn't have time to store up any food," whined the Grasshopper; "I was so busy making music that before I knew it the summer was gone."
The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust.
"Making music, were you?" they cried. "Very well; now dance!" And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work.
"There's a time for work and a time for play."
The Christian Bible tells a similar parable about the wise virgins, who would not share their oil with idlers either.
(to be found in Saint Mathew's gospel, chapter 25)
One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat. "What!"
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
20 Nov 19
Your accounts go well with this scripture!
2 Thessalonians 3:10 (KJV) 10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 (KJV) 10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
20 Nov 19
@innertalks Yes, we need to be balanced. There is a time to work and a time to play.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
20 Nov 19
@1hopefulman Thanks, Felix.
On the other hand, some modicum of balance is also required, as another old proverb goes:
"All work, and no play, makes Jack, a dull boy."
1 person likes this
