Sunday, June 17, 2007

Questions & Cicadas

I don't know about you, but sometimes I find myself with a lot of questions I'd like God to answer. Some of them are quite serious, and some of them are more for the sake of curiosity.
For example, our finite brains have a hard time conceptualizing what heaven will be like. Recently, I read something on this subject in a collection of Ralph Waldo Emerson's letters and essays. He was lamenting the fact that his "to be read pile" of books never seems to get smaller. So he wondered if, when when we get to heaven, we will have access to all the material we hadn't read in our lifetimes. I think this question goes to the top of my list of questions for God.
One of my longstanding questions is about cherries. I understand that part of the magnificence of God's creation is the variety. And I understand that he made each of us different, so that the things you enjoy might not be the things I enjoy. So if you like palm trees or lima beans, I can appreciate that even if palm trees or lima beans don't thrill me. What I can't understand is cherries. I know there are plenty of you out there who think cherries are perfectly lovely. But I don't get it. The whole concept of cherries being something other than a consequence of original sin and the fall of man is a mystery to me. So my next question is about cherries.
Then there's the cicadas. Have you seen these things? They are ugly. Some of the creatures on this earth are a little odd. Some, like perhaps the cockroach, are downright unattractive. But the cicada is hideous. And they only get to come out from underground every 17 years so they can... ummm... mate. These poor bugs have it worse than the penguins. Yeah, I need to ask God about what's up with the cicadas.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've only seen cicadas once, when I went to Flagstaff, Arizona. The air seemed to buzz with a whirring sound. I thought it was a squadron of helicopters but my friend clued me in. I thought the whole idea of cicadas is amazing- a kind of Rip Van Winkle thing. I can see metaphors of rebirth, of an eternal Spring, of the sleep of the spiritually blind, etc. Now, about the mating, I'll leave those metaphors to others.

And cherries! Really, Nancy... they are lovely. We just finished cherry season here in California. The cherries were sweet and fleshy, so dark and juicy they popped when you bit them. I can't believe you've tasted cherries picked the same day. (I'm suspecting you are referring to awful Marischino cherries that are evil and synthetic, not the ones made by God.) Mmmmm. Now to wait another year for cherries.

LeAnne Benfield Martin said...

I have to agree about the cicadas. Let me know what He says.

And what about slugs? Yuck.

LeAnne