ants and the heart

We have had an ant problem the last few weeks.  It was their first appearance in the two years we have been living in this house.  The weird thing was you couldn't follow the typical trail to find where they were coming from.  They just seemed to be wandering around the kitchen counters waiting patiently for me to leave some dish out with a hint of food on it (which often happens..."I'll get to these dishes later").  That is when I saw them swarm in a matter of minutes (as much as insects without wings can).  

In the beginning there was a lot of flicking and squishing and spraying with a mostly safe Green Works product, but they kept coming back.  The black counter tops that seem desirable on home makeover shows hid more than is good for you.  Sometimes I discover something I have to scrape off while cleaning that might have actually been there awhile.  Anyway...ants blend right in as well.  A quick wipe of a paper towel and bug cadavers are found clinging to the white sheet.

Even though the pesky little creatures weren't causing an infestation they were just that, pesky.  Always lurking about ready to jump on a dirty spoon that was not rinsed off.  I was getting annoyed.

My Love returned from a work trip and sprayed something a little more powerful than 97% natural ingredients.  It seemed to work for a few days, but slowly the bugs returned.

Then...

My Love was grilling some prefab burgers one evening and KB and I were talking on the back deck.  The kids were playing in the yard and I was sweeping up the leaves that have already dropped behind our house.  I swept and talked and listened.  Then I lifted the door mat leading into the house and I saw them.  Tons of ants living right outside our back door.  And what looked like eggs making their home under our mat.

I sprayed them down and swept them away with some effort.

My mind started going.

Sin.

It creeps in waiting to jump on an opportunity.  We flick it and squish it and spray it with a non-toxic agent but behind those come more.  Not enough to overwhelm us but just enough to be annoying.  You look for the source and don't find it so you settle for dealing with what you do see.  In reality, the undesirable behavior (ie. anxiety, deception, lack of submission, fear, selfishness, guilt, grumbling...) is really an issue of the heart.  "For out of the heart, the mouth speaks".  If you try to deal with the surface behavior ill equipped to fix the problem, it WILL keep returning.  The heart.  The heart must be dealt with.  For we can do nothing by our own strength.  We must give God our whole heart and ask him to heal every dark corner.