CHILDREN’S BOOKS

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

My son will be thirty-six years old in a few weeks. I am not a keepsake kind of mom, however I kept some of his much loved and often read children’s books by authors like Eric Carle. As I sat soaking up the sun rays recently, my eyes were drawn to one of those books, “The Quiet Cricket.” Carle provides these facts before he weaves the story: There are more than four thousand different kinds of crickets. All crickets can hear but only the male can chirp. The chirp is made by rubbing the wings together. As a female, I am bothered by this but who am I to question Nature.

The story chronicles the life of a cricket hatched on a warm, sunny day. The baby cricket meets other crickets and insects over the course of his first day. Each insect speaks to the baby cricket, and he rubs his little wings together to respond. You guessed it, “Nothing happens,” not a sound. Morning fades into afternoon, afternoon fades into evening until the cricket is finally wished “good night” by the mosquito. For the final time of the day he believes, the baby cricket rubs his wings together – “not a sound.” As a Luna moth sailed quietly through the night, the cricket accepted his state and enjoyed the stillness until – he saw another cricket. SHE, too, was a very quiet cricket. He rubbed his wings together one more time. This time he chirped the most beautiful sound she had ever heard. When this book was 30 years younger, it would produce that beautiful sound.

By now you know I look for a life lesson appropriate for the “now” in almost everything I do.

I thought of the many projects that I have in various stages of completion. We all have ideas that hatched in the warmth of a creative moment. After a few attempts, the idea is abandoned. We are not as tenacious as the baby cricket.

When I let my imagination run wild, I could imagine the cricket’s exuberance waning as the day progressed. I can see him stomping his itty-bitty legs with tears streaming from his eyes at day’s end saying, “I want to chirp, will it ever happen?” Little did he know, each failed attempt was a rung up the ladder to final victory.

His answer came in the stillness of the night. He was in a frame of mind to recognize the opportunity. He put the fear of another failed attempt behind him and tried again. VICTORY!!!

My timeline and the right time may not be synchronized. Think of a time when you worked hard to make something happen and it didn’t and then it did with a better outcome for the world to see than you ever imagined. Remember this when you are struggling in the future. It might motivate you to keep trying.

Luke 5:4-7

PONDER THIS THOUGHT— The right time and place might be the very next time.