Their song rises and falls like a pulsing heartbeat through the trees, insistent, almost impossible to ignore.
Cicadas live most of their lives hidden underground, and when they finally emerge, their time is brief, a few short weeks to sing, to mate, to leave behind the next generation before falling silent once again.
There is something holy in that rhythm. They remind us that life isn't about how long we live but about how fully we use the time we are given.
Cicadas don't whisper. They sing with all their might as if to say, "Make your days count for they are few." Perhaps that is our calling too, to sing our song while we have breath, to love the people around us fiercely, to spend our short time, not in fear, but in joy and compassion and courage.
The cicadas will soon fade. Their chorus becomes memory, but the lessons remain. Life is short, precious, and meant to be lived in the moment with all the volume of the heart.
This is Dr. Scott Morris for Church Health.
