Don’t you love how God teaches us lessons through His creation?
Take crabs and ants for instance. Have you ever heard of the “Crab Mentality” or crabs in a bucket illustration? If you place a group of crabs in a bucket, any one crab could easily get out. The problem is that no one crab can escape, because all the other crabs will continually pull it back down into the bucket. This is also known as the “If I can’t have it, neither can you” mentality.
Humans can be just like these crabs.
When a person is seeking to live a healthy, happy life (i.e. pursuing and achieving goals, eating healthy, exercising, having a happy, hopeful mindset, etc.), other people in their life will.not.like.it. They will often seek to pull them down with negative or snide comments, ostracize them, or refuse to support them. They aren’t healthy or happy, and they don’t want you to be either. The thing to remember is that this is a reflection of what is going on inside of them. It has nothing to do with you. Love those people. Have compassion on them. Be an example to them. But don’t let them pull you down! Instead, keep being happy. Keep pursuing health. Keep setting and achieving goals and working hard. And make sure you’re not being a crab in someone else’s life!
Instead, we should be like ants…
When one ant is injured, studies show that the other ants rally around him and carry him back to the nest and try to nurse him back to health. They work as a team, supporting and encouraging each other. They know their very survival depends on it! Ants want other ants to succeed!
Food for Thought
Am I an ant or a crab in someone else’s life? Do I want them to succeed or am I trying to hold them back? Or am I letting other people (crabs) hold me back from the changes God is calling me to make? Who has been an ant in my life? Why not forward them this article and tell them how much you appreciate them!
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up.” -1 Thessalonians 5:11
