Singing Lessons

"See how the fearful chandelier trembles above you each time you open your mouth to sing? Sing."

Donald Justice

It would not be summer without ants. Lately among my friends there has been lots of comparing notes on individual 'ant invasions' experienced as the summer reaches full bloom. There must be something about the right mix of rain, heat and ripening produce that signals ant populations in the South to mysteriously and suddenly appear, most often in the kitchen. They had probably been around for months on scouting parties, sizing up the potential for leftover bits of breakfast muffins or sticky splashed juice. If they decide your kitchen is the Promised Land, you wake up to hordes of them scurrying in organized chaos across counters, inside the napkin holder, swarming across the unwashed bowl from last night's ice cream you meant to put in the dishwasher and following an invisible trail that takes them back to wherever it is they came from in Antlandia. Maybe they are taking their vacations and our kitchens are their destinations? You know where the kids say "Can we please, please go to the Disney Land?" Only the ant kids say "Can we please, please go back to that house that loves pie?"

Here's a thought. Have you ever considered what it might be like if you could perceive just how many insects—ants, spiders, roaches, moths, crickets- were creeping, crawling and spinning in your house right this moment?

I say, ignorance is bliss. Meanwhile, back to ants and trembling chandeliers.

On closer observation, ants are rather amazing. Their ability to track miles back and forth from their nests, the incredible strength they exhibit hauling and tugging their choice morsels home to share, is stunning when considered in relation to their size. They are a powerful metaphor for devotion to the good of the whole, each little ant working tirelessly on the particular role they were born to fill.

No matter the obstacle, they never seem to give up. Their patience, which in Native American lore is what they most often represent, is admirable. "Try, try again" is the motto on their tiny little ant hearts and anyone who watches them for long knows it is a fierce part of their approach to anything. They are fearless. They have a job to do, they want to do it, and nothing short of a heavy stomp or a can of Raid is going to stop them.

Fearlessness. That is a quality I've thought a good bit about lately. I'm not talking so much about physical bravery here, but more about the quiet, centered way of using our own personal power to reach the things in life that are the most meaningful to us. I don't know which kind of fearlessness is greater: going ahead when you don't know what is going to happen or when you do. Both require facing down fear of the unknown and the potential for pain and failure and drawing instead on trust in ourselves and faith that honors the right of our desires and dreams to exist.

Have you ever watched a determined little ant wrestling with something many times larger than itself? Over and over again it shifts, tugs and pulls, arranging its hold until finally it manages to get a grip that sets it homeward bound with the prize. Certainly there are times in all our lives when it is good to remember we are not here just for ourselves. Pausing now and again to remind ourselves that what we do each day does contribute to the good of the whole whether we fully realize what that may be, is not self aggrandizement. Instead I think it affirms that what we do, however modest it appears on the surface, carries within it a power beyond our perceptions. When I think about that, I am always reminded of that wonderful quote attributed to Aesop: "No act of kindness, no matter, how small, is ever wasted." But, it is also good to remember that the determination we feel to achieve something close to our hearts is equally worthy of all the patience, trust and faith we can muster.

Fear is that part of us that says: 'You can't". Power is the part of us that is willing to try and leads us out into the world to make our dreams come true. Our first actions may seem as small and humble as those of the tireless little ant, but those are in many ways, the most important. It is the decision to act, to acknowledge that we have the power to begin rather than letting the nay saying, fearful part of ourselves talk us out of our dream that awakens our personal power. Each time we allow ourselves to act for our own good, the fear that bound us loosens it grip on our hearts. Like the long line of mighty black midgets, each little step we take leads us to our prize. Even if our dreams seem small and insignificant, just like the ants, they are an important part of something bigger. We all have something to give that is needed and our world needs us to give it. When we are are struggling to summon the courage or intiative to create our hearts desires, perhaps that would be a good time to remember our friends the ants, and open our mouths and sing.