For A Purpose

Oblivious of the Bigger Picture

A poor little ant clinging onto the tip of a pencil.

As I was snapping this funny picture, a thought crossed my mind. I wonder what the poor little ant must be thinking now, as it precariously clings-on to the pencil – that is if the ant has a mind of its own to think. It’s a pretty comical spectacle to see the ant from a human’s viewpoint. But I wonder, if we were as tiny as an ant, and put into such a situation, it probably wouldn’t be as funny as you’d think now.

As I focused my lens on the tiny creature, I couldn’t help but wonder if the ant was actually aware of my presence. My big bulky camera must have appeared to be some black, gigantic hovering alien spacecraft. Or perhaps the ant, struggling to hang-on to the tip, hardly noticed my presence at all.

This macro-fied scene reminds me of how we humans often also struggle to cling-on to the “edge of the pencil” like the ant. We people of the world cling-on tightly to the things that seem important to us. We hold-on to worldly possessions like it’ll last forever. Or perhaps, in the opposite way, we hold-on to it because we know it won’t last us forever.

At the same time, we struggle to stay afloat, to survive, most of the time by trying to gain wealth and fame and popularity. At some point, you may be satisfied, but no matter how much you attain in this life, you will still continue to struggle to “keep it going” because none of these things will last in the long run.

Most people forget or do not want to believe that God exists. Just because the world is full of unpleasant problems, most people choose to deny the existence of a loving God. We may not understand His infinite ways, because just like the ant, we are only so little. The wisdom of man is foolishness compared to God’s infinite wisdom.

Just like the ant, we are often so oblivious of the “bigger picture”. We go about our lives doing as we please, forgetting that one day we will be held accountable to God for how we handle God’s gifts to us. God has a plan for us and how we should use the talents He has individually blessed us with. To recognize that plan is to see the “bigger picture” by submitting to God’s will because only God knows our future.

As helpless as we can be sometimes, it is best to submit our life to a God knows what’s best for us!