Inspired by . . . ants, lions and doodlebugs, oh, my!

Inspired by . . . ants, lions and doodlebugs, oh, my!

Imagine, if you would, the delightful scene of the two of us sitting down for tea. After stirring in a dot of cream and a lump of sugar, you might sit back and say, “So, what did you do last night?”

“Well,” I would say, eyes sparkling mischievously, “I was out hunting Antlions!”

“And I found one too,” I would continue, after helping you clean up your tea. “He spit some sand at me!”

Truth really is stranger than fiction! After all, Antlions are something you might expect to read about in a novel by C.S. Lewis or George MacDonald, not something you find on your front porch.

But there it was, in all it’s, slightly terrifying, glory.

 

 

Of course, I had to know more about this creature who was clinging so close to my front door. A quick check at insectidentification.org got me started. Thankfully, the adult antlions are harmless and consume mostly nectar and pollen. It’s their young that have earned them their ferocious name.

Antlion larva walk backwards, creating whimsical lines in the sand, earning them the name doodlebugs.

 

 

The catch? Once they find a suitable location, the antlion digs a burrow and then sits inside with it’s head slightly below the surface. When an unsuspecting ant falls in, the antlion grabs it with it’s huge jaws. I’ll spare you the rest of the gory details. Suffice it to say, the ant ends up with the same fate that you might if you walked into a lions den.

 

 

I was surprised at the wealth of information to be found online about antlions, they even have their own website: antlionpit.com, and I wonder if I might be one of only a few people that don’t know about these fascinating creatures?

 

 

Ever since I learned about the antlions, God has been whispering a warning to my heart, and I want to share it with you.

 

Be sober-minded; be watchful.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion,

seeking someone to devour. 1Pe 5:8

 

Much like the trail the doodlebug leaves, sin can entice and beguile us into following a different path. But just like the doodlebug’s trail, sin will always lead to a pit of death.

 

 

As believers, God will shut the lions mouth and protect us from losing our lives, but we may still get a nasty bite, or at the very least, sand spit into our eyes.

 

Then the king was exceedingly glad,

and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den.

So Daniel was taken up out of the den,

and no kind of harm was found on him,

because he had trusted in his God.  Dan 6:23

 

Nature has any number of lessons to teach us, if we will but listen.

 

Shalom,

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