A cricket: too good to be true

Full disclosure. I told the following story in my sermon on August 10.

Back in January I was sitting in my the corner of my office reading when I heard a chirp. Immediately I knew. I had a cricket. He chirped occasionally that day. I was too busy to get up and find him since the infrequent chirping seemed to emanate from under my coffee mug rack.

When the cricket chirped the next day, and the next, I named him – Jiminy Cricket. Why did I name him that? If you haven’t seen Disney’s animated Pinnochio, you may not be familiar with him.

Jiminy was the wooden puppet’s true friend and companion throughout the movie. He always only wanted the best for Pinnochio.

And so my Jiminy became a friend as well. Over the days, his random chirping became welcome reminders to stop what I was doing and reflect. One afternoon, I looked up how long crickets live – 6-8 weeks indoors! I looked forward to more time with Jiminy, who had decided to stay in my office, under the coffee mug rack and occasionally greet me.

I even dropped Jiminy some granola crumbs a couple of different times. I was concerned about him eating nutriously. When people met with me in my office and Jiminy chirped, I told them how he was a welcome guest.

The small things

I learned again to be thankful for small things. I have journal entries, thanking God for Jiminy.

I had people suggest to me to get rid of him. I was shocked. Such callous hearts! Then I had people suggest that he wasn’t real! The audacity! But then one day… a coworker and I were meeting, and she gave me a look after he chirped that made me rethink everything. It was the look of concerned pity in her eyes that led me to move my coffee cup shelf and discover… a device. ¹

Jiminy wasn’t real! I was shocked. Devastated. I had been living as if he was alive. I was feeding him! And the entire office staff had been aware of my self delusion.

It was an amazing prank. I had to be told. People tried. I just learned last weekthat my own daughter was responsible! Adelyn had bought the device and put it under the coffee mug rack and simply sat back and enjoyed the ensuing hilarity as I adopted a “cricket” – and even spiritualized him.

The Adventures of Pinocchio was written by Carlo Collodi as a children’s novel in 1883. In it, a talking cricket told the puppet boy, “You are a puppet, and what’s worse is that you have a head of wood.” Even in the animated film, Jiminy spoke truth to Pinnochio about his life and worldview. But Pinnochio began to reject the truths that Jiminy spoke to him.

It’s a silly example. You may have read and pitied me afresh. And yet… many of you still have your own version of Jiminy in your life…

• What do you cherish that’s not real?
• What are you “feeding” and giving resources to?
• What false narrative are you believing?
• What do you not want to believe?

Speaking of his name, “Jiminy” wasn’t invented by Disney. At the time, “Jiminy Cricket” was a polite euphemism for “Jesus Christ.” The expression was actually used (as an exclamation) in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Wizard of Oz, and the 1938 Mickey Mouse short, The Brave Little Tailor. It’s a bit surreal to know that Jiminy already had somewhat of a tenuous connection with Jesus.

What is Jesus trying to communicate to you these days, even through small things?

I’d like to invite you to watch/listen to my sermon for fuller context and background to the story of Jiminy. I’d love to hear your comments on how the sermon impacted you.

You can listen to it on Spotify or Apple:

1. You too can own or prank your friends with any number of devices sold on Amazon. The Frickin Cricket was the one that got me.

   

   But you can also buy cheaper devices in three-packs that make 15 other sounds![↩]