A Lesson From Fire Ants

Growing up in middle Georgia I was well accustomed to the painful and itchy consequences of accidentally disturbing fire ant mounds. Those pesky mounds were everywhere! If you stepped on a mound, thousands of tiny fire ants attacked you with blazing fury and left their signature marks on your feet and ankles. I would have never guessed that my college degree would culminate in a senior research project focused on these devilish insects! I spent six hours every week for a full semester watching fire ants walk on Teflon under variable conditions. Yep, I observed fire ants for almost 100 hours.

You can call me a nerd or call me crazy, but this project was rather fascinating. Do you know the easiest way to capture thousands of fire ants at one time? I am happy to explain! You simply create a flood. If you shovel a fire ant mound into a bucket and fill it with water, thousands of ants will immediately begin forming a raft out of their bodies in order to float and stay alive. These living rafts can survive for weeks on end. Such problem-solving behavior is critical during heavy rainstorms. The raft will stay afloat until it finds solid ground where the fire ants can build another mound.

A raft of 500 fire ants floating on water (Image: PNAS)

Fire ants naturally operate in well-organized colonies. From the interconnected galleries and chambers in their mounds to their "GPS navigation" via pheromone trails to their flood-defying rafts, it is easy to see that fire ants thrive when they function as a cohesive unit. A fire ant in isolation struggles and does not fare well.

If this unity is so necessary for fire ants, how much more necessary must it be for the church to live together in unity? This past year has posed a huge problem for unity and fellowship due to canceled or limited gatherings. I have been so thankful for my church that has been very creative in reaching out in various ways and has slowly and safely opened up many of our ministries once again. We were not made for isolation. We need each other in times of peace and in times of trouble. From a prison cell the Apostle Paul urges us, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves" (Philippians 2:1-3).

God sets the perfect example of relational unity within himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays fervently that all believers would enjoy the same unity that he has with the Father. He asks "that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me" (John 17:22-23).

When the heavy rainstorms of life threaten to drown us, we must stick together as we fix our eyes on Jesus - the one who made the rain and the one who has the power to calm the storm. If fire ants can do it, surely we can too!