The Create-a of the Cicada
Take a moment today to smile in awe and wonder of the Create-a of the cicada.
This weekend, I’ve been like a kid in a candy store about to purchase a long-awaited lollipop. For a number of weeks, I’ve anticipated this weekend trip to celebrate Mom’s birthday, see family, and to celebrate the once every 17 year cicada.
As soon as we arrived in Winchester, I recognized the sounds that I had also experienced in 1987 and in 2004. To say that I was excited to see the 2021 brood x cicadas is an understatement.
O how time flies, and how quickly do the years buzz bye. To some, I am certain that my fascination with these crazy creatures bugs them and seems a bit bizarre. Yet, their re-emergence reminds us of grander grandeur in nature established by God, the awesome author of our existence.
In 1987, my first encounters with cicadas coincided with the first few weeks of our marriage. I recall seeing scores of them fly back and forth as I drove to work on the Washington, D.C. beltway. Memories abound of my beautiful bride who then and now grows in grace and beauty with each passing day.
In 2004, I vividly recall visiting Mom and Dad and how my father and I eyed massive amounts of them on the smaller trees in their yard. Trees very similar to the 15 foot one in my sister’s yard that I was staring at Saturday evening that was teeming with perhaps 400 - 500 cicadas.
O how I miss Dad since he was taken from this life in 2012. However, vivid memories of that day in 2004 remind me of Raymond Gritsko, my dear dad and namesake, and magnify the mystical bond that I feel with these resplendent red-eyed insects.
Perhaps these extreme experts in social distancing, isolation, and “quarantines,” can offer us encouragement as we re-emerge and re-establish our lives as prayerfully, and soon this pandemic passes.
As the Bible states in Psalm 104:24, “O Lord, how many are your works. In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your possessions.”
Almost every time I read that verse, I begin to sing the 1977 song by Amy Grant simply named, Psalm 104. If you’ve never heard it before, pull it upon YouTube today and hopefully it gives you a smile.
Dear brother or sister in Christ, or friend along life’s journey, as you start a new day, and a new week, preparing for the opportunities and challenges ahead,
take a moment today to smile in awe and wonder of the Create-a of the cicada.