Watch Your Step!

A while back, I was walking to the Metro station and was stopped by an older woman (that I would see each morning) who said that she noticed that I'd always look down and appear very concerned when I am walking. She proceeded to tell me that I should have a greater deal of esteem and that I shouldn't look down. She said I "should hold [my] head up high and look at all that God has made." I smiled and first thanked her for both her concern and her encouragement and expressed that I agree that all that God has made is indeed beautiful. We both smiled in awe of that simple thought, and I proceeded to explain that I wasn't looking down because I have low esteem or because I'm feeling down-trodden, I look down because I am actually watching out for what God has made. I'm looking down because I don't want to step on the ants who are doing God's work just as I was going to work to care for my family.

I realize that we all have duties and responsibilities and just because I was bigger in size didn't mean that my responsibilities are more significant than those smaller than I.  Each day, I'd watch the ants working diligently to move rocks and crumbs and whatever else they'd set their sights on. I'd walk cautiously, intentionally in effort to avoid crushing the little bugs beneath my feet. I wasn't sad, or depressed or overwhelmed by the pressures of life as the elderly woman had assumed. In my short lifetime, I've been blessed to have experiences that have helped me to find that everything we need to see or care for isn't always at eye level or above us. Some of the most significant lessons we must learn or things we must see are what we consider to be beneath us. It is helpful to look around us to completely to see all that is there because as much as we may want to believe it doesn't, it ALL matters. So, if/when you see someone looking down, try not to assume that they are down on themselves or something is wrong with them. Perhaps they just don't want to kill the ants.