Crickets

One of the best parts of camping is the night. Stars that went unnoticed are now blinding reflections of the Creator, covering the entire vastness of sky like a Jackson Polluck gone exactly right. There is always this unexplainable stillness that just saturates the air. And there are crickets.
These crickets that deafen indoors-mens’ ears with their noises and serenade outdoors-mens’ ears with their song.
It is impossible to distinguish between their cheeps. One cricket a hundred feet away sounds pretty much the same as the one underneath your tent. It is impossible to even pick out one specific cricket over a group of crickets. They are unified. One continuous and resounding song erupting from all sides.
The chirp of a cricket is just simply a mating call. It is the only thing a cricket knows how to do to get the only thing it desires. The cricket is wanting and in need so it cries out every night desperate for someone to hear him and fill his desperation.
Every night the air is filled with the chirps of those who are wanting.
One curious thing about these crickets is that it is so easy to block them out of mind no matter how loud they get. I was sitting last night talking about absolutely nothing with some guys before we headed to our tent exhausted to go to sleep when I heard them. I had heard them so many times before but this time I really heard them. I was in one of those moments that apparently happen quite frequently where I zone out the world around me and get all philosophical in my head. I started thinking about the mating calls of these insects.
The sun had been down for a couple hours already so the crickets had been at it for awhile and I didn’t hear them. I am so used to hearing this racket that I blocked it out completely. How many other cries for help have I blocked out because I was used to them?
Everyone around me is doing all they can to get my attention and they are all chirping individually so loud and unified that they have become this easily ignored annoyance. When I finally stopped to hear them I realized they were really, really loud –so loud that we were raising our voices just to be heard over them. We are doing everything we can to ignore them.
They were the first thing I heard on my first camping trip, and they kept me awake all night. I was 8 and I couldn’t fathom how loud they could be. When I went on my first trip with the Holy Spirit I was amazed at how loud the world was screaming and the thought of these hurting people kept me awake all night. I really need to hear those crickets again.
I was laying in my sleeping bag last night with the sound of these crickets resonating in my ears. I have to hear them. I thank God I get to.