Spiders

Spiders… I don’t know why, but today has been all about spiders. Yes, spiders.
Couldn’t sleep so I finally tackled cleaning out the pantry … It was a job, put off far too long. So here I was up and at em’, ready to go, arms full of Lysol products, broom, mop, and dustpan. I am totally confident that the ancients could have written an entire book with all the dried up onion and garlic skin littering the floor. And wouldn’t you just know it, behind all that mess, spiders! Oh, no, not just one, there were families of spiders that had taken up residence and were quite comfy, cozy in their upgraded spider community… spider colony… spider clutter. Too, there wasn’t just one species… there were several!

Spit spot, job completed, and spiders evicted or so I thought. Feeling rather proud of this early morning industry, I treated myself and my pooch to an early morning stroll in the star light under the trees.

While gazing intently at the bright morning star, I found out abruptly I was not finished with spiders. I walked right into an orb spider web and this very large mother spider suddenly thrust from her web landed smack onto my face. You know it is a rather helpless feeling waiting patiently for a spider, a very big one at that, to crawl down your chin and launch from your body to the earth below. It seems like an eternity waiting and watching, and hoping intensely the pincers are for her prey and not for you.

I am not sure why so many people fear spiders. I wonder if it’s their legs or maybe it is their beady little eyes… all eight of them. Could it be that it is a fear of the unknown? We fear they will jump on us and do something… something unexpected and scary.

Fear is not fun and faced with it we have two choices… just two. It is a binary answer. Will you trust God or not? Is God big enough to handle any problem? Or is He impotent, weak, inept and puny. We act like he is or I act like he is when I turn my attention to the fear and not him.

God has and will continue to tell his children, “Do not fear or be dismayed… I am with you… I will fight for you…I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous… Yea, be strong and valiant. So if you fear today, as I did, trust our God. He is big enough. His grace is sufficient. So next time fear comes along and it will, when you are walking along and you find a spider crawling on your face remember… God will not leave you and me nor will he forsake. He has and will be here all along.

Itsy Bitsy spider climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
Itsy Bitsy spider went up the spout again!