The Cicada Circle
There are some events that only take place every 17 years. If you are a “Friends” fan, you may think it’s the “Friends Reunion”. If you live in Maryland, you will know it is the cicada mating season.
There is a well defined circle of life of Cicada Brood X. They primarily live underground for 17 years of their life. Something then prods the bug to leave their comfy dirt dwelling 8 feet down and climb out to the earth’s surface. There, they shed their crusty shell and emerge as a large black iridescent winged creature.
Their next adventure is to fly to a nearby tree. There they will find food and lodging. With nature’s call to reproduce, they mate and the females lay eggs. The adult critters will then soon die, leaving behind their offspring to hatch, eat and crawl back down to the the depths of the earth only to surface again in another 17 years.
As I ponder this circle, I can’t help but draw some parallels to my own existence. Their behaviors and mine are not identical but not completely foreign either.
I began life as a typical baby, feeding and growing not unlike the eggs left behind by the mama cicadas. As I grew, like the egg turned grub, I crawled into darkness. Not literally underground but I moved around that darkness for many years and I almost liked it there. Like the cicadas, I made the best of it and existed day to day in that dark place. In some ways it all seemed very normal and I felt safe there, not wanting to see the light.
I don’t know what in nature pushes the cicadas to move to the earth’s surface but I do know what pushed me out of the darkness. It was more of a pull, than a push. God tugged and moved in my heart bringing other Christians along side me. It was through that encouragement and the love of God that I was able to shed my crusty outer layer and become a new creature in Christ. I was made new!! This became me:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
It was a gradual transformation but God made me into something beautiful, not iridescent or shiny but a new person on the inside in being more like Him everyday:
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23
Unlike the cicadas when they get their wings, I did not immediately fly off to the trees to mate! However, I did go a new direction with a new goal to be like Christ. I began to strive to leave behind, not eggs, but impressions for Christ that in time with God’s blessing would hatch and be evident to those whose paths I crossed.
It is in the ending however where the similarities between the cicada and me fall apart a bit…
Some day this world will be over for me and in the end the darkness will not be where I crawl back to. Instead I will go home to a bright and joyous home in heaven:
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
I don’t know exactly what heaven will be like but I am expecting that it will be well lit and not underground!!!
Want to learn more about Christ becoming your Savior and leaving the darkness? Text “Leave the Darkness” to 410-936-4252.
JW