Little Critters of the Night

For two nights we’ve had a cricket outside our bedroom window making the most annoying sound.  In all the years I’ve lived here I have never heard such a disturbing loudness.  Anytime a truck or larger noise would appear in the distance the critter stopped.  We get comfortable again and quickly it would start to sing (or crick or whatever you call the critter's voice language).  It has rained the last two nights.  I love listening to the rain fall, the water hitting the pond, and the wind blowing through the land.  I do not enjoy the cricket.  At times I would find myself exasperated, inhaling and exhaling as if I was in labor. Somewhere in the midst of this creature’s song I envision it on a stage and other critters partaking and indulging in listening to it.  I don’t know where it came from but I was seeing a tiny stage and little chairs with bugs, grasshoppers, spiders and other insects as a large audience.  It was then that I fell asleep.  The cricket didn’t stop the noise, but I did.  The annoyance disappeared when I accepted its song as a beautiful gift to the world.Isn’t that how problems or challenges feel at times?  They annoy the most patient cell in our bodies.  The moment we change perception our reaction shifts to peace.  It is amazing to step back and notice the difference.  Problems are only mind games in our lives.  How we react to those situations determines the outcome.  I was able to fall asleep because I accepted the cricket as the Ricky Martin of the night critter world.  Who am I to interrupt that show?There’s a process to problems.  There’s a timing involved that requires faith and allowance.  You cannot push or tug on them if they aren't ready to evolve into the next level.  Just like the critter’s song, the more we focus on the obstacle the less we see the blessing.  As I begin my day, coffee on my lap, fingers typing away, incense burning nearby, I am grateful for all those obstacles that have arrived lately.  They can be annoying when I am focusing on the negative, but when I step back and see what has come with them…I hear and see the beauty of grace echoing through a large concert hall and I am filled with divine love.