A Bug in the Bathroom

For the last week or so I've had some sort of pesky insect living in my apartment. Although I hadn't see it, I knew it was here because it would begin its mating call around midnight EVERY night and persist throughout the night. I wasn't sure what it was, but I didn't think it was a cricket because it didn't sound like anything I had heard before. All I knew was that it was driving me batty!

After the first night I began my quest to eradicate this pesky pest! I would listen carefully and try to track it down. Yet, it seemed that it knew when I was coming because it would stop making that annoying "chirp" whenever I'd get close to where I figured it was. Then I'd go back to bed and it'd start up again. I decided that as much as it was a mating call it was just taunting me!

Ever since it started I would pray that it would leave or that God would bring its life to an end some way or another. Yet, my prayers were not quickly answered. Well, last night I had finally reached my breaking point!!! I could not sleep because of that stupid thing....whatever it was! So I prayed one last time and then went on a critter search. This time I realized it was coming from the bathroom and it wasn't stopping as I got closer. I flipped on the light and much to my surprise there in the middle of the bathroom was the tiniest cricket I'd ever seen! (It's a wonder I saw it at all it was so small! Thank God for directing my vision!)

At this point I will add that I hate squishing insects because I hate that crunching feeling and sound that comes from the exoskeleton as it breaks under the weight of a foot or Kleenexed fingers. So what did I do? Well, I reached for the closest "container" I could find....a hairspray lid. I quickly trapped it under the lid, but then didn't know what to do with it. So, I left it. (Thankfully it stopped chirping at that point.)

So, yes, at this moment, nearly 24 hours later, I have an itty-bitty cricket trapped under a hairspray lid in my bathroom. I'm scared to see if it is still alive because I'm afraid it will get out and hide again. I'm hoping it'll die soon and then I'll just throw it away. I guess I'll just have to wait for a few days and see.

Now, to give a little meaning to this story....

After I went back to bed, I started thinking about how amazing it was that such a tiny little thing could produce such a loud sound! And how such a little thing could have such a huge impact on my life! I got to thinking about that some more throughout today. So much of the time I look at my life as amounting to so little. In the scope of all the people in this world that are or have ever been or that will ever be, I'm not even a blip on the screen. When you think about the massive scope of our universe, I'm nothing! When I think about how huge God is, I'm nothing! Just like that little cricket is so small compared to me, but, WOW! What an impact that cricket had on my life! It makes me think about the huge impact I can have on the life of another if I just do what comes naturally to me. That is, to do what I was created to do.

It also reminds me of when the spies were sent to see what/who occupied Canaan and their report was "We are like grasshoppers compared to them!" and they were greatly discouraged. (Which eventually led to them not occupying the Promised Land.) But to God they were not grasshoppers! And even if so, man, after my encounter with this little cricket, it makes me wonder just how much of an impact we can have even if we are only grasshoppers compared to our situation if only we will just trust God to give us the strategy to live out our life's purpose and to keep us safe from the enemy.

Plus, if our praise and worship of God is as irritating to Satan as that cricket's chirp was to me....HA-HA-HA!!! It just makes me want to praise Him all the more! Thank God that He promises to hide us under shadow of His wings! Because really, our P&W is like a mating call, because it attracts our Bridegroom! (However, if I ever seem to be caught under a hairspray cap please come save me!)

So, even though I still don't care much for that cricket that has expired (or will expire) in my bathroom, I learned a lot from it.