Cicadas in Boracay

Most of my friends know I always find time to do my usual three-kilometer walk on a daily basis, even if I’m traveling. Over the weekend I found myself in Boracay for an office activity, and well, the beachfront and the lush foliage of the island provided such a tempting opportunity for an afternoon hike. From the thick vegetation along the resort pathways came forth monkeys at dusk, and soon enough the deep cadence of the chirping of cicadas filled up the air with their buzzing din as daylight wanes to dark.

Whether those were cicadas or crickets which play their music as days turn into nights, we still do hear these creatures in our daily lives, mostly discarded as part of background noise in the business of urban life in the cities. It’s more pronounced where a little of nature is emphasized in places like Boracay, in a few sections, at least. And when one walks alone on a deserted pathway, the whole bunch of them sounds like an animated orchestra to appreciate. There must be thousands of them performing their nightly courtship performance.

Why do cicadas or crickets do what they do? When we ask the question against the backdrop of the reality of God’s existence, for those who believe he exists, we remember and realize that God knows everything and does everything for a reason and not just for the heck of it. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven,” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and God knows everything that happens under the sun and has a purpose for each. He even knows the number of hairs on your head (Luke 12:7) and the name of each star in the heavens (Psalm 147:4). That’s true for each insect that chirps --God knows each and has a purpose for each.

This realization instantly pales and disappears whenever we think of our own circumstances. This common expression prevails, “I am the master of my fate and the captain of my soul.” Man thinks, believes, and insists, that “it is me who determines what my future will bring by the way l see life and prepare myself to face its realities.” And the unforeseen brings forth anxiety and fear precisely because of the uncertainty of knowing beyond what our limited mind can fathom. Still, we insist that we should be in control.

Cicadas play music because God has a purpose for them to do so; how much more is God in control of all the things in our life and wants us to follow his will. For those who place their life and future in God’s hand, he promised the best life, not only for this current one but more so for eternity. If we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord of our lives, he gives the assurance of a future and not the uncertainty of what happens next. Cicadas play a beautiful sound because God wanted them to and has a purpose for it, how much more will God have a purpose for our lives when we surrender our all to him.