When I discovered them, I sprayed them with 409 and wiped them away. Therascals (well, new ones) came back. Repeat spray-and-wipe procedure. Theyrepeated their return. My husband put an ant trap on the counter. That helped alittle, but more showed up later. This was all starting to really gross me out.Fast-forward to the next day, lunch-time.
The scene: making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for my kids.
The drama: I thought the counter was clean enough, so I laid the bread righton the counter without a cutting board, and began to spread the peanut butter,then the jelly, on the sandwiches. I put the sandwiches on paper plates anddiscovered a few tiny little ants crawling on the sandwiches. Yuck, yuck, yuck.Checked the knife I used for the peanut butter. They were on it. Checked thepeanut butter. They were in it. More yuck. Threw the peanut butter away.
Decided to investigate where these ants were coming from, and where elsethey were in my kitchen. Looked in our main food cabinet. Yep. They were notonly on the shelves, they were climbing vertically up the sides of the cabinetto reach other shelves. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
At this point, I had a royal freak-out. I started throwing things out of thecabinets, spraying the shelves down, and trying to figure out where the antswere getting in at. (Sometimes spring cleaning is more out of necessity thandesire).
I went over to the computer to search for ways to eliminate sugar ants onceand for all. Found some helpful tips, but this information only added to myanxiety. Here's how you wipe out and control a sugar ant invasion:
- Keep your counter tops immaculate. Spray with bleach water, or vinegar waterafter every meal or snack.
- Sweep and mop your floor with either bleach or vinegar water after everymeal.
- Apparently, the ants will follow pheromone trails, so the bleach or vinegarwill destroy their scent trails.
What so overwhelmed me about this was:
1) my kitchen counters are nowhere near immaculate. Getting them spotless inthe next fifteen minutes (which was the urgency I felt) caused me to panic,along with questions of how would I ever keep them spotless if I succeeded ingetting them spotless in the first place?
2) Mop your floor after every meal? I am lucky if I can mop once a week.
Right then, it felt like all the issues that have been causing some tension forsome time (the kids leaving toys on the floor—which I needed to mop NOW, notconfining their eating only to the table, etc.) exploded. I had a majorrant-and-rave session, which included comments, like, “You all need to helpmore with chores”, “There is too much for me to do by myself!”, “We have waytoo many toys!”, “I’m sick of always picking up your toys. I’m just going tostart throwing them away” and on and on. At one point, my son said, “Oh no. Thisis just getting way too serious. We’re still only kids, Mom.” Hilarious!
I realized then, as I have realized in times before, than I fall back on apattern I was raised with of trying to spur my children to action through usingguilt and shame. It’s terrible, I know, but like any bad habit that rears itsugly head, it can be hard to break.
Ironically, while mopping the floor, a Christian radio broadcast wasdiscussing the topic of anger. How do you handle it when it’s gotten out ofcontrol and is hurting your family? One woman called in to say that she learnedto recognize her triggers and then take appropriate actions to address herstress without losing her composure.
I realized then that the sugar ants were a metaphor for my own spiritualcondition. My struggle is how I react when stressed to the max. But for someone else,it may be a different problem. Am I going to keep sprayingand wiping the ants I see on the counter each day, or am I going to take thenecessary (although difficult) steps to defeat the problem for good?
We can keep spraying and keep wiping (dealingonly with the surface problem), but if we don’t target the source, the antswill keep coming back. Sometimes, we’re forced to deal with our “ants.” The pesticide for eliminating the “ants” westruggle with is repentance, prayer, and walking in the Spirit.
We cannot change any bad habit or sinful pattern of behaviorwithout first recognizing that it is a problem and then confessing our shortcomingsand need for help to our Maker and Savior. We pray, as King David prayed in Psalm51:
"Have mercy on me, O God,
accordingto your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blotout my transgressions.
2 Wash away all myiniquity
andcleanse me from my sin.3 For Iknow my transgressions,
andmy sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only,have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight…7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and Iwill be clean;
washme, and I will be whiter than snow…
10 Create in me a pure heart, OGod,
andrenew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me fromyour presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.Once we’ve prayed, we walk in the Spirit. Christ’spresence with us will give us everything we need to overcome our sinfultemptations and falling back into old patterns of behavior. We need toturn our minds to Him and ask for His mercy and grace.
12 Restore to me the joyof your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. 17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
abroken and contrite heart
you,God, will not despise.”
(By the way, the counters managed to stay prettyclean for a few days—I wouldn’t say spotless, but close! And the ants are notcoming back to the same places. I’m still struggling with maintaining the highlevel of cleanliness required to keep them at bay--it takes a lot ofdiscipline, which can be difficult, especially with a sick baby who wants to beheld all the time--but I’m growing. I’m growing spiritually, too. I'm grateful that God cares enough about me that He wants me to grow to become more like Him, and He'll help me do it--and you, too!)
Sharing with:
We are That Family (Works for Me Wednesday)Women Living Well
Heavenly Homemakers (Gratituedsay)
The Better Mom
Raising Arrows Raising Homemakers
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder