The Sounds of Cicadas

Summer has always been my favourite time of the year. The long nights on the balcony having BBQ and enjoying the view as the sun sets, being woken by the beautiful view out my window of the mountains and sky and trees. The sounds of summer… birds and OMG the cicadas.  Every 7 or so years there comes an influx of cicadas that are so loud it hurts your ears, sometimes they are so bad you can feel their spray on you as you stand on the balcony.  Even when I have opened the door to see if they are too loud to venture out, they have flown in and started flying around my living room. I have found myself trying to grab them at times when they are quiet. 

 

I race out to sit outside and enjoy summer, with my book and cup of tea I settle in, only to be attacked quickly by their sound that comes from what seems like nowhere, the wave of loud to medium, over and over again. I hold on hoping it will pass, or that I will get used to it and will be able to block it out, but every time I retreat back into the house. It’s like it is a game they are playing and they are winning. I have even put a strong hose on the trees and watched them

scatter only to watch them return moments later. I can’t work out when they start and when they finish, I only know that this summer their noise has been so loud that it has overtaken everything else and become the focus. Social plans have had to be changed to stay inside because we can’t face the sound, the intrusion, the disturbance, the sound that spoils a beautiful view, a lovely setting and a chance to enjoy summer in general.  This has added to the COVID challenges of not being able to be indoors with too many people, so the challenges continue. I have closed the doors and windows and simply stayed indoors to escape the drowning, humming, monotonous, painful sound of summer 2020-2021.

 

What do you do when you feel trapped in your own home by a sound that overwhelms you so that you can no longer enjoy the simple things in life that in the past have brought you so much joy? I know it is only a season, it won’t last for long. I know we just have to wait it out, this too will pass. When you’re in it, it is hard to feel that. No matter what is happening around you all you can focus on is the sound of the cicadas and how to drown them out. It is sad because the sun is still shining, the sky is still blue, the mountain is still green and lush, the air is still warm and inviting, but this season I had to try to enjoy it behind closed doors. It is like watching summer pass you by, as a by stander a step back from the action. 

 

There are seasons, circumstances, pains and hurts, challenges that come into our life that overwhelm the simple beauty of the everyday. They encroach on every aspect of life and are hard to shut out. It is hard for them NOT to become the focus, for the challenges, pains and hurts to stop us from being able to feel any of the joy, the positive moments. 

 

It is hard to know when this happens to us, and it will happen, to know what to do. Do we bunker down and wait for it to pass (PAUSE), do we push through and try to find ways to not let it spoil our situation (PLAY) or do we run away and find a different view (DELETE/SKIP) or do we let it affect us so much that we become angry, bitter and decide to give up everything because it is all too hard. (STOP). They are all choices we have, and in each circumstance we need to consider the correct approach. This is where PERSPECTIVE helps. The REWIND and FAST FORWARD buttons.  As we REWIND in our mind, we consider better times or times where it felt hard and challenging and we got through it. 

For this summer, I rewind and know that this happens every 7 or so years, I know that the cicadas only last about 6-8 weeks and it too will pass. When I FAST FORWARD I know that a new season is coming and to hold on and keep perspective.   If I didn’t have that perspective, I might panic, feeling like this will never end. Nature continues to teach us a lot, but nature’s seasons are more defined as to when they begin and end. Life’s seasons and circumstances are not so easily defined and that makes it more scary. 

 

This is when a faith perspective makes all the difference. I REWIND and see what God has done since the beginning of time, what Jesus has done on the cross, those that have gone before and in the midst of crisis can still say “It is well with my soul”.  I FAST FORWARD and see the promises of hope and a good end to the story. I can hold onto the knowledge that my story ends where there is no pain, no death, no crying, only love, joy and peace. It is that perspective that helps me face today’s overwhelming sounds of brokenness, pain, confusion, no answers, not being able to feel joy or face people today. Whether I choose STOP, PAUSE, DELETE/SKIP or PLAY for a time … It is ‘perspective’ (FAST FORWARD and REWIND that will get me through to the next season.

 

The cicadas will be gone soon, summer will turn to autumn. This too shall pass in months, I can only pray that the overwhelming defeat of pain, circumstances and challenges you are facing today pass just as quickly and that you will soon be able to feel joy, peace and love again. Life teaches me that this may not happen this side of eternity, so PERSPECTIVE is all we have to hold onto, and it is real, it is true and it will come to pass.