The Termite Queen's Fateful End

Our raspberry plot that was under siege.  We sell the
raspberries which then set women up into cottage industries

After weeks of no rain, with humidity rising and all of Kampala being covered in a layer of red dust, we've all been longing for rain to cool and wash everything down.  We've been spoiled the last year with so much rain that it seemed the two rainy seasons joined into one. Uganda is blessed with cooler temperatures than you might expect most of the year round and rain that thoughtfully comes for a few hours at a time and then clears up, so we still get plenty of vitamin D!   I have woken up this morning at 4:45am to a cracker of a storm.  Kampala is in fact named "The Lightning Capital of the World".  Outside it sounds like a war as the storm moves further away but occasional bomb-like thunder accompanies the widening gaps of lightning. At 5a.m. the mosque has started its call to prayer, gently and melodiously down the valley.   So, unlike my normal self, I've surrendered and decided to get up while its still dark and write another blog.   I know that I owe you one about Jackson....that will come.  I wanted to share some thoughts I had on Valentine's Day last week.

How the termites take over with just one queen

Over the last few years we've been struggling with a large termite nest that has been gradually taking over our garden.   I've arranged for fumigators to come and spray the nest, we've tried pouring oil over it and more recently we attempted destroying the nest over and over, hoping to wear them out...but each time we knocked the nest down, the very next day it would be back with scalloped rings of dirt, meticulously designed overnight!   They killed off my rosemary bush and moved onto completely wipe out my two stunning rose bushes....the last straw was when they moved into my raspberry patch and began chowing down on my beloved plot!   MAF's night guard, Chris, offered to search for the queen, and explained that unless she was found and killed, the nest would continue to overtake everything.   Apparently the queen moves from one side of the nest to the other according to whichever side the moon rises so Chris was confident of finding her.   I found Chris on the 14th, digging at first light a ginormous hole.  He then exclaimed that he had found the queen and killed her with his spade.   She was like a fat, huge, witchety grub from Australia!    He then told me that all of the termites would run away and find another queen elsewhere. 

Where the termites home used to be
after their evacuation

I've thought a lot about this picture given straight from nature.   The bible talks about tying up the strongman before trying to take his goods.  It also talks about filling our houses with the spirit after deliverance so that the enemy doesn't return after the house is swept clean.  Often when we pray, its sometimes hard to see results.   I'm often reminded to go for the strongman when praying about worldwide, local or personal issues.   For example, one huge strongman of our age and throughout history is the spirit of deception which blinds peoples eyes so they cannot see truth.   When we pray more specifically about the root causes of our hurting world, I believe we do see results.   If talking about strongmen is a bit hefty and spiritual, I would also like to relate something I learnt from the Living Wisdom Counselling course I was able to attend 2 years ago.   They talked about people's inner problems being like an iceberg that just shows a tiny percentage of its mass above the water.   Their counselling offers to go right to the basement in people's lives and through asking 'Empowering Questions' they offer to really get to the root cause of why we react the way we do.   They equip you with 'Truth Coaches' which help to make truth your friend, rather than toxic thinking.   They're course also encompasses 2 advancing themes of our generation...'Neurol plasticity' and Emotional Intelligence.   They talk about the phrase 'UBF', Unbearable Feelings which we all have (some have one or two or even more) based on whatever we've gone through as children...lies we believe about ourselves which go onto become buttons we try our best to avoid.   One I have struggled with is the UBF of rejection.   Like the Queen termite, I've had to dig down deep to address this reactor in my life and am attempting to downgrade it to a bearable button so that I can be more centered, balanced and respond the way a grown up should when I come up against it in my life.   All of those lies in my thought-life are having to run away and find another home now that the 'Queen' has been dealt with.    If you can get hold of Living Wisdom's course, or read up about it online, please do (or email them at info@livingwisdom.com.au).  It has been a life changer for me and is exciting to know that we're not too old to change or unable to get free of crippling lies that can get control of us and destroy our garden.   Our relationships with others can thrive when we're taking captive of every thought and making them obedient to Christ.