a pile of termites

Several years ago, I heard a story on NPR that stuck with me about termite mounds. It seems that when one of these massive structures seen on the African Plains or at Disney's Animal Kingdom gets knocked over, the termites build it back.

So there is no committee meeting. No termite gets elected president of the rebuild. Nobody organizes the termites into teams. No sign ups, no directives, edicts, or org charts.

The termites just "know what to do."

It turns out there is a name for this type of behavior in animals and nature. It's called emergence.

I'm not sure why the story idea first resonated with me.

I guess on the gut connection to God level it just affirms that God works that way with me sometimes.

It isn't about how organized, how well I know God, how large my faith or strong my belief that dictates, controls, or limits God's love.

It just happens.

So. If that's true sometimes the best thing we can do as leaders is not to lead.

To just get out the way.

And let the termites rebuild.