In the fourteenth century, Tamerlane, a great conqueror, found inspiration from an ant while hiding from his enemies in a deserted building. Dejected and desperate, he observed an ant struggling to carry a kernel of corn, much larger than herself, over a wall. Despite falling back sixty-nine times, the ant persisted, and on the seventieth attempt, she succeeded in pushing the corn over the top. This display of perseverance so inspired Tamerlane that he regrouped his army and defeated his enemy. The life of ants further illustrates the concept of initiative. Ants, though small, are remarkably strong, capable of lifting twenty times their body weight, and they possess significant brain power for their size. They live in complex colonies with millions of members, each ant having a specific role. Worker ants tirelessly forage for food, care for the young, defend the nest, and maintain cleanliness by removing trash to designated dumps. They communicate through a form of language and leave scent trails to guide others to food sources, demonstrating resourcefulness and organization without a ruling leader. Ants show an innate focus on the colony's welfare, rushing to defend it without hesitation when threatened. Unlike humans, they do not exhibit jealousy or suspicion; each ant simply does her job. No ant shirks her duty or complains about her role, whether foraging or protecting. Tamerlane's ant, for instance, carried the grain of corn back to the colony without being told, driven by the need to provide food. The idea of not doing her task was alien to her. From these examples, ants embody initiative through their ambition, drive, energy, inventiveness, and resourcefulness. They work diligently and intelligently, with each task contributing to the colony's well-being, offering a powerful lesson in perseverance and dedication.

Ants make you feel like your skin is crawling. Jon Mooallem's article describes crazy ants as a present day creepy-crawler pestilence that helps picture what Pharaoh and the Egyptians experienced with lice, flies, and locusts. This is a plague for a sinful nation. We have not yet experienced the full brunt of God's wrath as a society.

In Proverbs 6:6-8 the text references the famous admonition to go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. The ant has no captain, leader, overseer, or ruler yet provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. The ant has no one telling it what to do yet it works to provide its needs by planning and laying up supplies for the future. This example supports the first of three tips for living a prosperous life rather than a lucky life. The tip is to plan which means to think out, prepare in advance, arrange, contemplate, design, organize, and outline.

Fire ants are a variety of stinging ants with over 285 species worldwide. Although most fire ant species do not bother people and are not invasive, Solenopsis invicta, known in the U.S. as the red imported fire ant or RIFA, is a viciously invasive pest. They entered the U.S. in the late 1930s aboard cargo ships from tropical South America. The cargo ships arrived in Mobile, Alabama, and fire ants immediately migrated throughout the United States. They have been reported as far north as Delaware and as far west as California. An average colony contains 250,000 workers, hundreds of reproductive males and reproductive females, and one queen. In addition to single-queen colonies, many have multiple queens, which increase the number of mounds per acre. Queen ants can live seven years or more, while worker ants live approximately five weeks. A newly mated queen can lay a dozen eggs. When they hatch seven to 10 days later, the queen feeds the larvae, but a queen fed by worker ants can lay 800 eggs per day, which emerge as adults 9 to 15 days later. Between 30% and 60% of people living in fire ant-infested areas are stung each year. A fire ant's sting burns, blisters, and may cause nausea, vomiting, disorientation, dizziness, asthma, and shock. In sensitive victims, the sting may cause anaphylactic shock or even death. Unlike many other ants, which bite and then spray acid on the wound, fire ants only bite to get a grip and then sting from the abdomen and inject a toxic alkaloid venom. In the U.S., the FDA estimates that more than $5 billion is spent annually on medical treatment, damage, and control in RIFA-infested areas. The ants cause approximately $750 million in damage annually to agricultural assets, including veterinarian bills and livestock loss, as well as crop loss. Fire ants are an example of invasive species that are derogatorily affecting the U.S. as part of an alien invasion of sorts.

The ant is an insect that shows many desirable traits which should be emulated. The ant is self-motivated. Having no captain no one has to force it to go to work. Each ant strenuously pursues its own duties in a disciplined organized way. The ant takes care of matters when they need taking care of without procrastination. When the time comes to do it the ant does it. The ant is a diligent social insect. The ant is concerned about the welfare of the colony. The ant devotes the utmost of care to its young. The ant does these things without a leader. The overall lesson of the ant is to avoid indolence. Indolence will not produce prosperity. If one watches the ant the wisdom is that prosperity is not the result of wishes but of work. The indolent person may not actually destroy but if he refuses to create wealth he is just like the person who does destroy. Not producing has the same effect as demolishing something if one leaves something undone that should have been done. There is no such thing as standing still. If one is standing still one is in reality going backwards. The action the work does not have to be desperate. It only needs to be consistent diligent and disciplined. God is not asking for what cannot be done. He only wants consistent diligent and disciplined effort. There is a lot of wisdom from the ant. God created those characteristics in the ant so that one would learn what He respects in a human being.