Proverbs 6:6-8 - Buttered Cooperation

We had been gone on a summer vacation and left butter out on the kitchen counter. It was in a covered, Rubbermaid butter tray. The problem was that the lid wasn't air tight. The entire stick of butter was surrounded by grease ants. It was decorative fringe: tiny ants lined up, side-by-side, like pigs at a feeding trough. A small traffic line of ants were marching one-by-one to and from the nest, wherever that was.

The stick of butter ended up in the garbage, but you have to admire their hard work.

Solomon wrote: "Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. (Proverbs 6:6–8, New Living Translation, 2015)

I didn't count the ants, but I'm sure between the ones sucking up butter and the ones in the nest, they were at least in the hundreds.
They didn't have a dictator forcing them to work.
They didn't need elected officials to organize their efforts.
They didn't need a tax system to save up for their social security.
They didn't need government to provide highway infrastructure or storage facilities.
They didn't need lawyers to resolve civil lawsuits over property disputes.
They didn't need a union to make sure their work is safe and pay is fair.

Father, it's fantastic that You instilled determination and cooperation between such tiny creatures. By contrast, You've given us minds to think. Instead of instinct, you've given us the ability to choose. Intellect and choice are wonderful gifts. Give us graciousness to use those gifts to cooperate with others in whatever tasks you have for us today. Amen.