Day 20 - NATURE CONVERSATION

INSECTS - CICADAS

23 Be glad, O children of Zion,

   and rejoice in the Lord your God,

… 25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.

26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God who has dealt wondrously with you. Joel 2:23a, 25-26

NATURE CONVERSATION

Cicadas are not specifically listed in the Bible, but the Bible mentions locusts, grasshoppers and crickets.   Often locusts are mentioned as a plague, as something that will destroy the crops, a result of judgement.  I choose the verse above because God promises to restore what had been destroyed by these insects.

The cicadas in my yard are not particularly destructive, but they can be when they arrive in huge numbers.  I am reminded of Laura Ingalls Wilder's book On the Banks of Plum Creek when the grasshopper took over their crops and she related it to how those in Egypt must have felt (Exodus 10).

24 Four things on earth are small,
    but they are exceedingly wise:
25 the ants are a people not strong,
    yet they provide their food in the summer;
26 the rock badgers are a people not mighty,
    yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
27 the locusts have no king,
    yet all of them march in rank;
28 the lizard you can take in your hands,
    yet it is in kings' palaces.
Proverbs 30:24-28

NATURE JOURNALING/OBSERVATION

I thought about titling this one "The Sounds of Summer."  One of our first observations when going outside is the sounds.  We hear the cicadas singing their songs all day long.  Here's a youTube video of a cicada.

Studying Insects through Questions

NATURE STUDY

Planet Earth video series, Episode 10 "Seasonal Forests", at approx. minute 25-30.  Available on Netflix.