Pest Problems

When I was packing to come to Nicaragua, I loaded up very heavily on one thing: bug spray. I knew there would be bugs, and lots of them, but yet I was woefully unprepared for insect invasion that awaited me.

Our first steps on Ometepe were plagued by swarms of gnats so thick I don’t think I could even see the island until they died off. We hated them because they smelled like decay and choked the air we were breathing, but they didn’t do us any real harm. Now that they have died, however, the big boys have come out to play.

Currently, I’m pretty sure I’m more bug bite than human, and one of my elbows looks like it has undergone some sort of disfiguring accident thanks to the lumpy, swollen masses that populate it. There is an insect somewhere on me more often than not, and I don’t even want to know what my mosquito net is keeping out at night.

One evening in particular got to me pretty badly. Some of us had made the 40-minute round-trip journey to the local store to treat ourselves to some sugar (in any and all forms we could find it in). I opened a small package of chocolate chip cookies, ate one, and returned the package to my bag. Though I had been pretty diligent at zipping my bag tightly closed when I wasn’t using it, I forgot to this time.

I set my bag down on the floor and was playing guitar and singing with my team and the kids before Team Time. When it came time to go, I grabbed my guitar and my backpack and headed to our meeting place. A few steps later I felt something stinging my elbow.

At first, I thought I had been stung, so I just kept walking. It was dark, and I reached into my bag to find my flashlight only to yank it out seconds later covered in tiny, black, viciously biting ants. I dropped my stuff, yelled, and started towards the working sinks which were quite far away. Luckily, my teammates who were nearby quickly opened their water bottles and began pouring them over me to wash away the little terrors.

Though we got them off quickly, my hand and forearm still turned red and swelled up for a few days. The remaining pain wasn’t enough to get in my way, but it was certainly enough to remind me never to leave food in the open again.

Much of our lives are plagued by pests. Maybe they are actual pests, like the insects here on Ometepe, but more likely they are people or things that get in the way of our plans or try our patience. There’s the neighbor who blares music in his backyard till all hours of the morning, or the lazy coworker who always manages to find a way to take credit for the work you’ve done, or the “friend” whose compliments feel more like insults.

But just as we need bugs to pollinate plants and make them grow or feed the animals that feed the animals that eventually feed us, we need the pests in our lives to help make us better. They teach us love for people who aren’t easy to love, patience in circumstances we can’t change, humility in our success, and forgiveness when all else fails. Sometimes, pests are just placed in our lives to show us who will come pour water on us to put out the fire.

We don’t always walk away from our encounters with these pests unscathed; sometimes they leave us scarred, swollen, and itchy. But the scars serve as reminders of the lessons pests taught us and the dangers they scared us away from (after a Coke, five pieces of chocolate, and a fruit chew, I really didn’t need those cookies, did I?).

I wish I could say that I’m always thankful for the pests God allows into my life, but the truth is that I’m usually not. But I am beginning to recognize the value they have and am asking that God would give me the gratitude I don’t already possess and the eyes to see beauty in my scars.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Romans 12:14 NIV