Peepers

A couple nights ago when I was driving home I was suddenly compelled to roll down my window. Over the sound of my mother talking to me and the music playing I had heard something I had been waiting for all winter. The peepers were chirping. And it was perfect timing as always.

Ever since I was really little I have known the sound of the peepers. They come out in the summer time when the air is warm and those clear summer nights have begun. I have fallen asleep to their soothing noise, a gentle chirping sound. And until a little while ago I had never ever seen one in the wild before, and not for lack of trying. The night I saw him it was raining; a fall chill was in the air. I was getting ready to go to bed. I went to check that the front door was locked and was met with a pleasant surprise. A little frog was hanging out on the window. He wasn’t making any noise, but I knew what it was right away. It was a peeper. He was so little and cute. His little neck moving so fast, as if trying to make noise but failing to do so. His little eyes, mesmerizing. His sticky feet holding him to the window so tiny. Something so simple, but yet, so amazing. Seeing that little frog made me realize how important such a little creature has been in my life.

That little frog has brought me peace many times. When I’m home it is a comfort. Something you don’t realize you miss until you don’t have it anymore. And when I was in Roatan, so far away from home and comforts, that something familiar was sorely missed. But then we hear something unexpected as we drove back from dinner to our rental house one night. We rolled down the car window and listened to that familiar chirping sound. And we laughed as we realized they didn’t sound quite like the peepers we had at home. It was like they had an accent. And I listened to those Hondurian peepers as I began to drift off to sleep and I knew it was going to be ok. And when I was in Virginia Beach last summer, a trip of many questions and not enough answers, I sat out by the beach one night, wondering what I was doing there, and realized I heard something I didn’t expect to. Those little peepers were chirping their song. Letting me know it was going to be alright. And as I sat in the car the other night, at a time when I was worried about what my future holds, I started to hear that choir of chirping little frogs and knew everything was going to work out just as it’s supposed to. As long as I can hear the peepers, I know I’m going to be ok.

The song of the peepers is like God’s way of reminding me that He is always there and it’s going to be ok. Whether it’s with their little Hondurian accents in Roatan, their slightly southern accents in Virginia, or the peepers here at home, as long as I can hear them I know I have nothing to worry about. Sometimes God uses something unexpected to remind us that there’s nothing to worry about, that He’s in control. Sometimes it’s something incredibly simple. Like a little choir of frogs singing at night. The next time you hear those little chirping frogs, sit back, take a deep breath, and listen to them. Then remember that whatever is troubling you, God is in control and it will all be ok because the peepers are still singing their song.