Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Ant and the Contact Lens - A True Story


rock climber
Brenda Foltz of Pinceton, MN 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 might 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 at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains.  She thought of the bible verse 'The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.'


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.'


Later, when 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?'

ant carrying contact lens Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it?  An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of  the rock, carrying it!


The story doesn't 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 don't know why You want me to carry this thing.  I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy.  But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You.'


I think it would do all of us some good to say, 'God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load.  I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy.  But, if You want me to carry it, I will.'  


God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the  called.







Snopes verifed story - http://www.snopes.com/glurge/antcontact.asp



2 comments:

John MacHaffie said...

Love It. One of the better postings on the net! Thanks functional mute (love your unique handle).

Anonymous said...

Well really loved the story as well the moral of it. How these small creatures teaches us the lesson to keep you more practical and ready for any instance. The story has enlighten many such stories where one is like the ant and has to overload himself with the weight of contact lens without thinking is it of use or not, as the Lord has decided the way for you.