To me it is a song that comforts.
It's a sound that transports me back in time to summers as a kid.
Summers spent laying in bed, looking out the window at the stars twinkling in the clear night sky and feeling content, happy and that all is well in my little world.
And as August rolls around every year it also brings to mind campmeeting evenings.
Sitting in the open tabernacle, watching the evening fade to night, listening to the sound of preaching, praying, singing and praising God mix with the outside symphony of nature's song that sounded so loud and strong you just knew that even the bugs were praising God.
As a young child the sounds of the night service, the warm air and the bugs would lull me to sleep on a church pew. As I got older the sounds were such a sweet part of the August night and all that camp was to me as a child and teenager that even now, on August nights when the crickets start singing I go there in my mind.
I don't get to experience Kansas summer nights much anymore but they are a sweet memory that comes back with the first note of a bugs nightly concert.
On Facebook this year there have been a few pictures of August camp. Although I was back in Kansas during that time, I didn't go. Part of me regrets that. But the pictures were nice. There was, however, one picture that represents another sound that is associated with that camp. Not only to me but to many others also.
Oh man does that bell bring back some memories. I can hear it ringing even now. What a sweet sound to my ears. That bell that rings to let you know it's time for church or time to eat. That bell that is a huge part of campmeeting.
Margaret Hollenbeck took this picture and posted it on facebook. Underneath she wrote
"Love this bell ; first heard it's ring when I was 13 years old! Love the
continuity and connectivity it represents in my life as it has rung for my
children and grandchildren as well!God bless this hallowed ground and the
memories of all who have gone on! Thanking God here for His blessings and the
Roots that go deep on this campground!"
Yeah, that bell does represent a lot.
Sounds can take us back and I'm so thankful that God has given me a heritage that I can look back on and know that it is full of happiness and contentment and the training of God's word. I'm glad that God gave me a childhood that was blessed by so many wonderful moments, simple joys and feelings of peace. How very sad that so few people can look back and say that about where they came from. How funny it is that my childhood comes creeping back to mind at the sound of bugs. :)
How much I pray that Lydia will always have those same simple joys of summer nights filled with nature's lullaby and sweet dreams and the pleasure of falling asleep on wooden church pews in the summer night, drifting off to the sound of God's message being told and staring up at stars that wink back.
So sing on little bug, sing on!
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