Tag: Christian growth

The Song of the Cicada Christian

The Song of the Cicada Christian

“Awake, my glory!  Awake, harp and lyre!  I will awaken the dawn, I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.”                                                           -Psalm 57:8-9

 If you live in the South, or, according to the Magicicada Brood Chart, anywhere in the Mid-West, Central Plains, or along the East Coast, you are familiar with the recent hatching of the cicadas.  If you are fortunate enough to live in the Mississippi River Valley, however, you are doubly blessed because there are actually two broods of cicadas that are hatching this year.  Apparently, even in the insect world, there are late-comers; those who overslept a couple of years and are just now making their grand appearance…only to find their song isn’t the only one being sung.  And thus we have, for our temporary enjoyment, the cicada duet as the fashionably late Brood 19 cicadas (whose timely family members hatched in 2002) are forced to sing back-up to the on-time Brood 23 cicadas.  All in all, this year is proving to be quite musical as we experience a cacophony of cicada exultations.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve not only heard the song of the cicada, but I’ve also heard the moan of man as, one by one, groans about the incessant noise of the cicadas have resonated until they have matched the decibel level put forth by the cicadas!  (Which makes me wonder if the cicadas are complaining as much about our droning as we are about their humming?)  That’s when I thought about the similarities between cicadas and Christians.  After all, we are both capable of making noise.  Perhaps we have even more characteristics in common.

To find out how alike we are, I first gathered some facts about cicadas.  Here’s what I found out:

  • Cicadas follow growth cycles; they begin as larvae, develop into nymphs, then molt and emerge as young adults.
  • Cicadas spend most of their life in the nymph stage; their adult life is short.
  • Cicadas feed on the roots of trees.
  • Cicadas can only reproduce while in their adult stage.
  • Cicada males “sing” to attract females; this is necessary for reproduction.
  • Cicada songs are pleasant… to other cicadas!
  • Cicadas leave behind a shell as evidence of their new growth.
  • Cicadas have years of massive hatchings; usually following a 13 or 17 year cycle

As I listed these cicada “truths”, I couldn’t help but notice how similar we, as believers, are to these unusual insects.  We too follow growth cycles that represent our stages ranging from infancy (new believer; “baby Christian”), to adolescence (no longer a milk drinker but not quite a meat-eater), to adulthood (off the bottle and chewing on the meat).  Unfortunately, just like the cicada, many of us spend more time in the “nymph” stage than in the adult stage.  If adulthood for the believer is the period of time in which reproduction takes place…a time when faith is shared and new believers are “born”…then I fear that, comparatively, we spend more time in the preparation stage than we do in the reproductive stage.  The preparation stage is, however, very important and what we feed on will determine how well, and quickly, we develop.  Like the cicada, we too should feed on the roots of our food source.  We need more than the milk of Bible stories, we need the doctrine embedded within those very accounts.  The roots of the word of God are the truths upon which our faith is founded and grounded; we need to go deep to find these.  Cicadas know the richest source of nourishment is located within the roots, where the main food source is stored; as growing believers, we too need to feed upon the rich nourishment that can only be found in the deeply rooted doctrinal truths of Scripture.

Once adulthood has arrived, it’s time to sing (if you’re a male) and respond (if you’re a female).  Just as cicadas lift their voices in order to attract other cicadas, for the purpose of reproduction, we too should be making a noise for the kingdom!  Our voices should be lifted in such a way that those around us hear our message and, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are attracted to what we have to say.  Cicadas attract cicadas; mature believers should attract new believers.  And, as beauty lies not only in the eyes but also in the ears of the beholder, the song of the redeemed should be as appealing to the Christian community as it is annoying to the secular community.  We were created to be heard; we were made to “proclaim the praises of Him who brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).  There should always be a song going up from those who know from what they have been saved and by Whom they have been purchased!  Then, as others are drawn to this song, they too will join in until Satan is forced to cover his ears and beg for the “Song of the Believer” to cease!

Lastly, believers are similar to cicadas in that they too undergo a molting process.  There is a time in every believer’s life when he sheds the old life that he has outgrown for the new life which is in Christ; Paul writes, “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).  While we tend to think of this process as occurring when we move from unbeliever to believer, and truly this is a time of shedding the old for the new, there should also be times in our “believer life cycle” in which we, like the cicada, outgrow our old shell and step out of it in order that our growth may continue.  In fact, we should have more out-grown shells than a cast of crabs!  (Yes, that is the correct terminology.  They may also be referred to as a consortium of crabs.  Now you know.  Thank you Google…lest you thought I actually knew this.)

While these individual comparisons find us more like the cicada than we may have expected, there is one other similarity that can be made but this one has to do with a communal behavior.  While there are some species of cicadas that hatch yearly, the ones that we are currently “enjoying” are the 13-year variety.  Another group, or brood, hatches in 17-year cycles.  At these times, countless cicadas emerge in one accord and it is then that their song rings not only in the air but in our ears!  For Christians, we can trace our loudest songs to those times when revival broke out across Europe and North America.  From the First Great Awakening in the mid-1700s to the Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s, to the Third Great Awakening in the mid-1800s, and finally on to the Worldwide Awakening in the early 1900s, we can see a pattern of “emergence” occurring about every 50 years.  Unfortunately, the cicadas have us beaten in this area as they hatch out far more frequently than we, as a collective group of believers, do.  Perhaps we need to give that some thought.  Perhaps, rather than wondering when the cicadas will stop making such a raucous, we should ask ourselves when we will begin making such a racket.  May we all awaken and break out in song saying, “Awake, my glory!  Awake, harp and lyre!  I will awaken the dawn, I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.”   (Psalm 57:8-9)

May we all be Cicada Christians…feeding, molting, singing, and reproducing…for the glory of the Lord, for the good of mankind, and for the ears of all who will listen!

In Season and Out of Season

In Season and Out of Season

“But also, for this very reason, with all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.  For if these things are yours and abound you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”       2 Peter 1:5-8

 As I write this, it is springtime and all around things are blooming, leafing, and pollinating.  It’s a visual banquet for the eyes and, for some, an olfactory explosion for the nose.  But, even amid the sneezes and allegiance to the Kleenex box, it is hard not to appreciate this time of year.  The time of rest has passed; the birds sound the alarm and the blanket of winter is thrown back as confined feet emerge to walk upon the soft grasses of springtime.  Who doesn’t want to be awoken for this?  There’s no snooze button on the seasonal alarm clock because it’s unnecessary…who would opt for another ten minutes of winter when the rays of spring are beckoning them?

It’s funny how the changing seasons affect us.  If you’re like me, you love to see them come…and later go.  Each one becomes my “favorite” on its way in and then, somewhere along the line, it overstays its welcome and its departure is anticipated as I prepare for the arrival of my next “favorite”!  But, even though I enjoy all four seasons, I do hold a deeper fondness for spring and fall.  The cooler temperatures and the emergence of varying colors are two things I never grow tired of.  Then, too, there are the spiritual lessons that are displayed in the foliage associated with each season.  From the display of a tree’s “true colors” in the fall to the display of its “new growth” in the spring, these seasons hold more than a visual appeal; they depict truths that address…and undress… our spiritual senses as well.

If you’ve read more than a couple of my writings, you know I am a “lover of the woods” and that much of what God reveals to me is done among the trees. So it won’t surprise you to learn that He not only teaches me from amid the trees but also through the trees!  Now, I’m not going all “new-agey green” on you; I did not hear God speak to me from out of a tree (that would have been the Lorax and I’m sane enough, and highly well-read enough…I do own every Dr. Seuss book ever written, to know the difference).  No, you will not find me hugging a tree or laying down in front of a bulldozer to extend the life expectancy of a forest, though I do like the feel of trees and I do have a favorite “sitting tree” that I would greatly miss…and would likely defend…if it’s trunk was threatened by an ax.  This most recent lesson was simply presented in the landscape as I took a quick glimpse out of a moving car window.  There, in a pasture, stood three trees; two were completely leafed out and one was completely barren.  The stark contrast of the trees caught my eye and the picture literally seared itself upon my visual cortex.  Even now, I can see the scene so vividly:  two lush, healthy trees; one desolate, sterile tree.  The thought that crossed my mind was how, just a month earlier, these three trees would have looked exactly alike.  Before the change in the seasons, before the call for new growth was given, these trees would have shown no contrast.  In one season, when only rest was required, the barren tree wasn’t evident.  Though already dead on the inside, that wasn’t evident until the season of new growth arrived.  Then, when it couldn’t produce from the emptiness of its trunk or the non-functioning of its root system, the deadness became evident; the unseen became apparent.  And that’s when the lesson, unlike the missing foliage, unfolded.

As I thought about the contrast in the trees I’d seen, I thought how we too are like trees and how our lives are also seasonal.  Just like a tree, we were made to be productive and to “bear after our own kind”.  We were created to have a root system, a trunk, and branches that extend outward and upward.  We were created to bless others with our bounty as well as with our shade and we were created to do what all created things were made to do:  glorify their Maker.  But while doing this, we too go through seasons.  We experience the new birth of spring as we awaken to God’s call and allow His Spirit to generate new growth in us; we move into the season of summer as we actively produce and store food from the resources God has provided all around us; we advance into the season of fall as we allow stored food to become new wood, making us more stable for the seasons ahead; and we enter into the season of winter where we rest from the busyness of past seasons while preparing for the busyness of the ones to come.  Seasons represent cycles that have separate yet integrated purposes; and our lives, in much the same way, mirror these cycles as well.

But, while we all go through these seasonal cycles, unlike the trees, we do not go through them at the same pace or in unison.  For some of us, our spring seasons might last longer than our summers or falls while for others, the winter seasons might be the lengthiest.   And, herein, lays not only a covered truth but also a potential stumbling block. (Aren’t all truths, to some extent, stumbling blocks?  For if we don’t step upon them we will [at least] stub our toes upon them or [at most] fall face first over of them.)  The potential trip up occurs when, in our spring time, our season of new growth, we look around and assume others should be displaying the same shoots and buds as we are.  We are excited about the new growth within us but rather than give thanks to God for what He is doing in our lives, we “let our sap rise” and produce complaints about the lack of growth in another’s branches.  Little do we realize that the very tree(s) we are complaining about are simply going through their fall or winter season.  It’s not that they have stopped being productive, but rather that they are allowing the growth from their spring and summer to mature and add rings to their trunks and depth to their roots.  Likewise, those trees that are enjoying the fall season may think the rapid new growth of those around them is too showy or exuberant when, in actuality, they have forgotten that their new growth began this way as well.  The pruning will come, the trellis will be erected to give form to the vines, and purpose will emerge from the thicket…but that’s for another season; that’s the work of summer.

I doubt that the trees I saw in the pasture were judgmental, but they do present another lesson we all should be mindful of:  seasons do reveal growth.  While we may move in and out of seasons at varying speeds, as believers in Christ, we are to move in and out of seasons.  We are not to be perpetually stuck in the same one.  We can’t always be in the new growth stage without maturing taking place, nor can we remain in the resting season contentedly counting our rings.  Life is about growing through (and with) changes and seasons not only prepare us for these changes but they actually help bring them about. If we never produced new growth that would later become our means of producing food, then we would never arrive at the season in which the stored food brought increased girth which would, in turn, allow for more new growth in the future.  And so on, and so on, one after the other, just as God intended, just as seasons represent.

But, just as we must realize our need to continually progress through the seasons, we must also realize our need to consistently produce within each season.  The truth is, no matter what season we are in, or how many seasonal cycles we have been through, there are expectations others will have for those who are planted in their Father’s orchard.  Are we not to be fruitful?  Are we not to produce after our own kind?  Even Jesus had expectations of the fig tree and, when it failed to do what it was supposed to do, Jesus cursed it and it died (Matthew 21:18-22).  If the Son of God had expectations from a tree, should we, as His image bearers, think that less would be expected of us?  Just as the barren tree in the pasture stood out against those laden with leaves, so too will we stand out when we fail to display the foliage of Christlikeness both in and out of season.  In 2 Peter 1:5-7, we read about the greenery we should display, regardless of the season we are in.  The leaves of faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love are to be evident at all times.  If we read on to verses 8 and 9, we learn that the one who abounds in these things…the one whose branches are prolific…will not be barren, but will provide shade for others because of the covering he has received in Christ.  What a picture of grace.  What a portrait of growth.  What a presentation of godliness.

In season and out of season, if our lives belong to Christ, we will always be “rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as we were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Col. 2:7).  That will keep us fruitful, that will keep us progressing through our seasons, that will keep us leafy no matter what season we are in.