Don't Make a Mountain Out of an Anthill

Just don’t.

You’ll regret it. I should know.

Allow me to explain. A couple of days ago, I was in the store getting groceries. I was in the fruit aisle looking at the strawberries trying to decide which batch was best. I wanted to use them as a topping to my pancakes along with whip cream. Yum! As I looked at the strawberries, it hit me; I didn’t need to buy strawberries at all. I had plenty at home. I had a small garden with strawberries that would be perfectly ripe by tomorrow. I smiled and left the produce aisle.

The next morning, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Once I get something to eat, I’ll feel better, I thought. My mood brightened as I remembered the fresh strawberries in the garden. I got dressed and went out with basket in hand, expecting juicy plump berries ready to be picked.

I stopped short. My strawberries were half-eaten, and ants were crawling all over them. My stomach boiled within me, and I felt like a steaming, whistling kettle. How dare those horrible, cruel, bloodthirsty ants ruin my breakfast! I glanced down at the ground and saw their anthill a few feet away. I’d make them pay for their ruthlessness!

I stomped over to the anthill and raised my right foot, prepared to stomp the ants’ beloved home to oblivion with the sole of my boot. I stopped myself and put my foot down. What was I thinking? Stomping on the anthill wouldn’t annihilate them. Besides, it wasn’t even a good enough punishment. No. I needed to make the ants suffer twice as much as I and my defenseless strawberries had.

I went back inside the house and got the big spray bottle of Antex Ant Killer out of my broom closet. Surely these chemicals would cause the ants all the excruciating pain they deserved. I went right back outside, unscrewed the nozzle from the spray bottle, and doused the whole anthill in poison. I watched as the ants drowned in the liquid.

My thirst for vengeance satisfied, I went back inside my house and ate pancakes topped with whip cream. I went about the rest of my day, completely forgetting the ants.

The next day, when I went into my backyard to plant strawberry seeds, I found myself in the shadow of what appeared to be a large, tall mountain! This mountain was unlike any mountain I’d ever seen before. It was brown and had holes in it.

Suddenly, gigantic ants crawled out of the holes and down the mountain. They were as big as Great Pyrenees dogs!

I screamed and ran back into the house, slamming and locking the door behind me. I looked out my window at the ants crawling around. My eyes nearly shot out of my sockets as the truth began to dawn on me. This was no mountain. This was the anthill from yesterday! How did that happen?!

Going on a hunch, I looked at the back of the Antex Ant Killer spray I had used. I read the disclaimer: Too much ant killer may cause diverse effects depending on the type of ant. Effects include but are not limited to abnormal growth or discoloration.

“Abnormal growth?! No kidding!” I watched as three ants crawled around. I wondered if the other neighbors were seeing what I was seeing. One ant wiggled its antenna at my garden, and five other ants clambered up my house. I fumed. First, the ants ate my strawberries, and now they were messing with my other plants and climbing up my house?! I had to reverse the growth somehow.

I looked up Antex solutions on my phone. After scrolling through farming forums, I found nothing! “What am I supposed to do now?!”

Then I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me. Go in your room and read your bible.

“But how is that going to help?”

Bang! Bang!

I looked out the window and saw two ants at the kitchen door. They were trying to break inside! I gulped. I grabbed a chair from the kitchen island and propped it against the doorknob. “Ha! Can’t get in now.”

Boom!

My body stiffened. Was…was that the front door?

I rushed into the living room. Ten ants were crawling in the living room and dining room, and several of them were even crawling on the walls! Ew!

I grabbed a broom that was leaning against a corner. “Get out! Get out!” I swatted nearby ants on the head. One ant grabbed the broom and tossed it aside. I retreated back into the kitchen only to find another ant by the backdoor. It grabbed the chair propped up against the backdoor and tossed it away. Seven more ants burst through the door and into the kitchen. The ants turned and looked at me.

I gulped. On second thought, going into my room did sound like a good idea. I hurried upstairs to my bedroom and closed the door. I took the bible off my nightstand. As the ants scuttled on my roof and shuffled around downstairs, I read Philippians 4:6-8.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

I realized what God was saying to me at that moment and finally came to my senses. I repented of my rashness and anger and prayed. I laid all my cares upon Him, even as I heard the ants rummage through my organized pantry and get dirty germs all over the floor.

A few minutes later, there was a roar of thunder. The ants' shuffling stopped. 

I went downstairs. The kitchen was a mess; cheerios, animal crackers, and fruit punch littered the floor. But I was focused on the rain clouds outside. The ants scurried back into the ant mountain as raindrops fell from the sky. As the rain poured harder and harder, the ant mountain grew smaller and smaller until it was back to being an anthill. The backyard, garden, and kitchen were a mess. But the ants weren’t big enough to eat me, so I was satisfied.

Reflecting on it now, I realize I made a mountain out of an anthill, figuratively and literally. I was so angry that I didn’t bother reading the instructions on the ant-killing spray bottle, nor did I use restraint when using the chemicals.

Did the ants deserve to die for ruining my strawberry plants? Absolutely.

Was that an excuse to go overkill on the bug spray, messing up my home, endangering the lives of the entire planet, all for the sake of a personal vendetta to make the ants rue the day they were born? No.

So the lesson here? Don’t make a mountain out of an anthill. Instead, lay your cares upon God and trust Him to take care of and guide you through crazy situations. After all, worrying isn’t going to make you any taller.

Now, if you will excuse me, I must tend to my garden by surrounding it with rosemary and lavender to deter the ants.