When I came upon this insect’s situation, I couldn’t help but stop and stare (and, of course, take a picture). At first, I thought I was witnessing a bug-eat-bug situation. But, my son, upon seeing this picture, informed me it was actually a cicada shedding its skin. Seeking to confirm his explanation, I googled the phenomena.
The annual cicada, which is green, compared to the brown, longer living cicada, emerges in July and August. The cicada sheds its exoskeleton when it enters adulthood, usually done while hanging vertically on a tree or bush.
Many writers have referenced the cicada’s transformation as being similar to the maturation process of humans. Unlike the butterfly process, humans do not go into a cocoon and emerge as something completely different, but rather, over time, we hopefully, become better versions of ourselves. Our key Bible verse speaks to something similar:
Ephesians 4:22-24 to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
What the Ephesians verse mentions, but I often gloss over, is we are to put on the new self. It isn’t just that the old life is shed and underneath we are the new and improved versions of ourselves.
How I wish it was that easy! I long to be rid of all my sin patterns, like shedding my coat when I walk in the door. Paul discusses this in Romans 7:15 as well: “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but do what I hate” Our transformation is not a one-and-done, it is a process, a daily surrendering of old unhealthy patterns.
The verses just prior to our key verse In Ephesians link this transformation of self to the hearing about and teaching of Jesus as truth. We have to constantly renew our commitment to the truth, putting on the new self which bears God’s likeness, releasing our hold on the old. It is a constant renewing of our minds and spirits that leads us to bear God’s likeness.
The cicada I encountered was lying on the ground and appeared to be trapped under the weight of its former “skin”. The cicada either by accident or choice was still hanging on to part of his former self. Which from an outsider’s perspective seemed odd- it was ugly and obviously weighing him down. He was trapped underneath it and not able to live his newly transformed life. Why would he choose to do that? Why wouldn’t he just let it go? I could ask the same of myself, do I need to let go of something I’m hanging onto so that I can live a transformed life?