Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Ant and the Contact Lens

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens. "Great," she thought. "Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry." 

She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there. She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she would find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was safely at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of 2 Chronicles 16:9, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong to those whose heart is for Him."

She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me find it."

Later that day after they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Though under the circumstances that question was startling enough, what was more amazing was that the person who asked it had just seen an ant moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying a contact lens! ant carrying contact lens

The story does not end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I do not know why You want me to carry this thing. I can not eat it, and it is awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

It would do all of us some good to say, "God, I do not know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it is awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."

Adapted from: http://www.edevotions.org/docs/antcontactlens.html

5 comments:

  1. Perfect timing, Terry. This is just the message I needed at 3;30 in the morning and couldn't sleep. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. I believe!!!

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  3. I like this.

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  4. Jerry White, Easley, SCAugust 5, 2011 at 8:02 AM

    Used that story about ant and contact lens last night in Bible study. It is good.

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  5. Terry, this was placed in my path for a REASON today...our family facing multiple needs of others all at once and we must pray about how far we can and should go to help and what does it mean for our family? Thanks for sharing this...it shifts my question from should we get involved (we already are) to how much. What parts are we to tend and what parts to give to Him? Prayers for guidance much appreciated.

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