But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about Your unfailing love. For You have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.” Psalm 59:16
After a long silence…they are singing. I stepped out into my backyard to finish my last cup of coffee…well, at least for a couple hours. When I opened the door, my backyard, and apparently the back yards, and front yard, and side yards of my neighbors were all filled with the sound of cicadas singing their song. What is a cicada? Well, it an insect, and quite honestly, an ugly insect that emerges late summer. And if I’ve got it right…different kinds emerge at different times and even years.
So, when Facebook only existed at Harvard University and when the sitcom “Friends” aired its last episode, a newly hatched brood of cicada nymphs (babies) fell from the trees and burrowed into the dirt. They stayed there snacking on the sap of rootlets and slowly growing…until the time is right. The cicadas that were singing this morning, again if I am correct, aren’t the ones who have been preparing for these days for 17 years—most of these are in the dirt for a much shorter time…only a year or two.
You’ve probably heard the song of the cicadas. It can be loud, and it can be annoying, unless of course you are a cicada. You see, they are not just singing, they are singing a love song. They are letting everyone know that they are up, they are out, and they are ready to prepare for the future. They have just a few days to sing their love song, find someone to love, start a family and, uh, die. That is one reason they are singing with such gusto. They don’t worry about annoying their neighbors…they are just looking for love.
In a few days, our yards will be a lot quieter. The party will be over, their love song will be silenced and buried in the ground will be thousands and maybe millions of nymphs waiting for their time to sing. The beautiful thing about us is that we don’t have to wait 13 years, or 17 years or even one year to sing. We have the opportunity to sing every day, and it is an opportunity we should embrace. There is a Latin saying that says “Carpe diem.” Now don’t confuse that with the surgery you have when your wrist hurts. That is carpal tunnel and has nothing to do with singing…unless it is the blues.
No, Carpe diem means that we are to seize the day…to make the most of every day. It means that we are to sing our love song clearly and loudly. “Love song?” You ask. Sure. If we look around, we have so much to sing about. Breathing makes the list…so does seeing, hearing, and walking. If you don’t think those things are worth singing about about…ask someone who can’t. Oh, and then there are people…people like family, like friends, like the guy who rides on the back of the trash truck and once a week hauls your garbage off. Ever thank him? Ever include him in your love song, your life song? If not, why not? You see the more we are grateful, the more we realize how much we have to sing about.
I know for me when I walk out in the morning and see the sun rising and the moon fading, my mind immediately goes to Creator God, my Dearest Daddy, who thought us worthy of another day. Oh sure, it’s not gonna be perfect, in fact, it might be difficult, but it is and should be something worth singing about. A song writer in the Bible put it this way, “But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.” Well, put Mister Songwriter, well put.
So, tomorrow, step out and see who is singing in your world…and join them. Dare to believe that you have a reason to sing…even if your world is less than you wished for. Stop, pause, and listen, and believe. There is Someone who loves you dearly, who wants to walk with you, who believes in you and that is something no circumstances can steal away. So, sing and believe “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 