• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Achuckallen

Instigating Better

  • Home
  • Blog
    • AChuck’s Top 10
  • Weekday Podcast
  • About Chuck
  • Resources
    • Devotional Resources
  • Sugar Hill Church
  • Contact Chuck

forgiveness

WE ARE THE ANTS & Who Shook the Jar?

June 8, 2021 by AChuckAllen

June 9, 2021

A young friend of mine (Charlton Clayton) posted an Instagram pic on his wall that reminded me of an old story with a super powerful truth attached to it. It goes like this; If you fill a glass Mason Jar with 100 black ants (think picnic) and 100 red ants (think OUCH!), you now have 200 ants. Here is the non-math part of the story. Those 200 ants get along just fine, living and anting together.

But then some knucklehead comes along and shakes the jar. They don’t shake it vigorously, but they shake it pretty well. The Mason Jar is now shaken, not stirred, but the 200 ants, having been disoriented and “all shaken up,” have picked sides. They are no longer just 200 ants living in harmony. They are now 100 red ants versus 100 black ants. And the peaceful Mason Jar is now a full-on battleground.


If you haven’t figured out the natural correlation to our shaken-up world, let me spell it out for you. You pick the division, and I’ll show you the jar shaker. You determine the problem, and I’ll show you the constant instigators. You point out the divisiveness, and I’ll show you the dividers.


How about this? Let’s get in the mason jar and refuse to be shaken or stirred. Let’s determine that we do not need others to do our thinking or our speaking for us. Let us think and reason on our own. Let us speak on and of our personal convictions and conclusions. Let’s tell the truth, keep no secrets, and respect each other.


Let’s stop the insanity of hate-filled rhetoric that has trickled down with all the gentleness of Niagra Falls onto our children.


I am not suggesting that we hide from the differences and divisions. Let’s face it; we have green ants, brown ants, black ants, mean ants, red ants, fire ants, and flying ants. Did you know that there are more than 12,000 species of ants on this planet? In some ways, they are all living together in a globe-shaped Mason Jar.


They do not need us to teach them how to live and survive. They just need to appreciate all the ants.


Allowing jar-shaking leaders in our churches, courtrooms, classrooms, and chambers should be criminal. Let’s live, lead, teach, serve and parent with a passion for loving one another. I know. What a preacher thing to say? But really, why is this so hard? Little kids playing together couldn’t care less what kind of ant you are. They don’t care if you are a right-wing ant or a moderate ant. They aren’t concerned about if you are a brown ant or a green ant. They do care if you play nicely. It’s a universal action…being nice.


Jesus said, “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”


He instigated and directed that we first love, then forgive, then love even more. And if we, who claim to be Followers of Jesus are spending more time shaking jars or griping about who shakes the jar, we missed the whole point, didn’t we? Maybe we are spending our time listening to and watching the jar shakers to the point that we don’t recognize the commonalities of all us like ants in the jar anymore?

We are all ants, living in a globe-shaped jar. Stop giving the jar shakers a voice. Give your head and heart to serving the fellow ants in the jar with grace, dignity, kindness, and good old-fashioned love. I think we’ll live in a far better jar.

Peace, Chuck

33.94276-84.2117916

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Pocket
  • More
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Print

Filed Under: ,America, Discipleship, Do Good, Emotional Health, Friendship, God and Country, Leadership, Life and Happiness, Uncategorized Tagged With: America, America. Equality, Better Together, Civility, faith, forgiveness, Hope, Kindness, love, Name Calling, Peace, Personal Development, politics, Spiritual Growth, Voice of reason

The Most Powerful Words in the English Language

June 11, 2019 by AChuckAllen

I recently had a string of poor verbal choices, caused a few relationships to go south and then got defensive while being called on it. It was an altogether challenging month. I wish that I could say that somebody else was at fault or that someone else was really at the heart of it all, but if I did that, I would definitely be lying.

I am a type “A” personality, a high “D” temperament and a scrapper. I like to be in charge. I enjoy a good argument every now and then and I am often terminally certain that I must be right. Wow! As I read back over what I just typed, why in the world would the Divine allow me the privilege of serving Him and others as a pastor?

In short, I created some heartache and angst among some of my favorite people and then complicated it by not handling their direct correction well at all. In doing so, I made good relationships challenging and a messy subject messier.


After some significant woodshed moments with the Lord, I have offered sincere and honest apologies and have simply said the most powerful words in the English language. I’M SO SORRY!


Not, I’m sorry that I got busted on it but plain ole I’m sorry. You know, saying those words and saying them with regret and repentance are two very different things. I meant them. I said them and each person has been gracious and loving with me.

So why wouldn’t I handle this correctly? I mean, really? It’s not like interpersonal challenges are new to me. But stopping to recognize that I was the problem is new to me. Stopping long enough to realize that I was the genesis of the problem? Now that is new to me. I then threw gas on the fire by not responding well and poof! What could have been a small and simplistic fix created broken hearts, sideways energy and less productive hours for me, the offended, the church, the Kingdom and my family.

So, in hopes that this short reminder to you might save you the same sideways and damaging journey, here are three things to save you from you:

  • Sometimes you are wrong. I know for many of you this is a no-brainer, but for those of you that suffer from the same terminal certainty that I do, it’s a good reminder that we can actually be wrong.
  • When you are wrong, work hard to make things right rather than working away at proving you are right.
  • Get to “I’m Sorry” as soon as you can and recognize that God uses humble, empty vessels, not pride-filled vessels to accomplish His greatest works.

Thanks for joining me today. I really hope you can join me on the Weekday Meditation, a brief podcast that includes an intentional time of guided prayer and meditation seeking peace, power and direction in your everyday life! You can find the podcast on your favorite podcast platform or at WeekdayMeditation.com

Go in Peace,
AChuck

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Pocket
  • More
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Print

Filed Under: Friendship, Leadership, Life and Happiness, Marriage Tagged With: forgiveness

Primary Sidebar

Search this Site

FOLLOW MY BLOG

Want to get my blog posts in your inbox? Want to subscribe to my weekly 4forFriday email? Click here to sign-up.

Social

  • View achuckallen’s profile on Facebook
  • View AChuckAllen’s profile on Twitter
  • View AChuckAllen’s profile on Instagram
  • View chuckallen1’s profile on LinkedIn

Categories

  • ,America
  • 21 Good Vibes
  • 4ForFriday
  • 4theLOVE
  • 9/11
  • AChuck's Top 10
  • Advent
  • Advent Devotional
  • Christmas Meditation
  • COVID-19
  • DAILY PRODUCTIVITY PLAN
  • Discipleship
  • Do Good
  • Emotional Health
  • Family
  • Friendship
  • Fun
  • God and Country
  • grace
  • humor
  • International
  • laughter
  • Leadership
  • Life and Happiness
  • Marriage
  • Mental Health
  • Missions
  • Parenting
  • peace
  • Pigskin Picks
  • Politics
  • Power Routines
  • prayer
  • Reviews
  • Saturday Share
  • Scripture
  • Sermon Replay
  • SLU
  • Southern Border
  • Sunday Morning
  • The CLIMB
  • therapy
  • Uncategorized
  • Weekday Meditation

Topics

4ForFriday 9/11 America America. Equality American crises anxiety App Reviews BATTLING COVID-19 Better Together Book Reviews border Busy calendar Christmas ChuckAllen church Civility CORONAVIRUS courage Covid-19 Currency Economy education Emotional Health faith forgiveness Frustrated fun Goals God Reads Good Books Good Listens good reads Gratitude Hectic Helpothers Hope humor Israel jesus Kindness laugh laughter Lead Leadership LIFE WITH CORONAVIRUS love Marriage masks Meditation Mental Health Mindfulness missionhouse Missions Music Review Name Calling New Currency New Normal New Year open schools overwhelmed pandemic Passion Peace Personal Development politics Post Covid Post Pandemic Power Prayer Productivity psychology PURPOSEFUL Race Relations Reading List rebuild the Bahamas Recommended Reading Relationships religion Restaurant Reviews Reviews sacrifice Servanthood Southern Border Spiritual Growth Spiritual Health Spiriyual Growth Strength sugarhillbeyond sugarhillmissions tasks taxes therapy Time Management Transformed USA vaccination Voice of reason work smart worry Worship yucatanmissions

Chuck Allen © 2023 · Site designed and built by Karen Brown · Log in

 

Loading Comments...