She’s Back!

Let me just start by saying that I hate spiders.  The very thought of them usually gives me the severe heebie-jeebies.  Snakes don’t bother me (we have one named Sherman as a pet). Mice don’t make me scream or stand on a chair.  Most insects don’t make me even flinch.  But spiders are another creature all together.  Have you ever looked at one under a microscope?!

Typically when I see a spider, I think “shoe or fly swatter?”.  This summer, however, one spider has won me over.  Early in July, my children noticed a very large Orb weaver on a very large web by the back door.  She had spun her sticky threads between the corner of the house and a citronella torch a few feet away.  I have to say that it was the most lovely web I had ever taken the time to notice, since I am usually looking for the shoe or fly swatter (see above).

Her work of art must have been four feet across, and about four feet high, with the most intricate pattern of threads holding it together.  It was truly a thing of beauty, and I did not have the heart to disturb it. Besides, I figured as long as she stayed outside the door and didn’t dare to venture through the door, she was probably doing useful work keeping the pesky insects at bay.  We admired her work and went in another door.

The next morning we noticed that she and the web were nowhere to be seen.  ”Probably eaten by one of the many bats we see flying around the pool after dark”, we figured.  

It was at dusk that we noticed that she was back, spinning at breakneck speed.  It was a thing of beauty to watch her at work and we were truly mesmerized by her skill. How could she do that so quickly and so surely? How could she go to that much trouble, night after night after night?  How could she create something so lovely, only to tear it down (or have it torn down) and have to start all over again the next day?  

We watched this with great fascination for weeks, always at night, and always with the same amount of speed and tenacity.  One night last week, however, my son noticed she was not there.  It was completely dark, but she was not to be found.  Had a bat now gotten the best of her? I knew from teaching 7th grade science that these spiders could live for several years; was she at the end of her life span?  We wondered what had become of our “Charlotte”.  I had to admit it: I actually had come somewhat attached to her.

This spider had been a great illustration to my family about God’s creativity and purposeful design.  This was but one of many types of spiders, which are but one of many types of animals, which are but one of many types of creatures on this earth.  And yet God had made her unique from other spiders, gave her the innate ability to do something amazing, something that blessed us with its beauty, which also had a very practical purpose for the weaver: a way to feed herself each night.  How could all of that just happen, without a brilliant Mastermind behind it all?   It was another reminder to us that there really is a God, and we are way more important to Him than this arachnid.  His design of us was even more incredible than His design of any other creature.  And more importantly, He is always at watch over us, never losing sight of us the way that we had lost sight of Charlotte.  

I am happy to report that she reappeared after a few days and is back to work each night.  I don’t know where she disappeared to (do spiders go on vacation?), but my kids and I are thankful she’s back.  Her webs are as incredible as ever, serving as a small reminder to us of the One who originally designed them, the One who gives the ability for them to be made, and the One who blesses us each and every day with all that He has created.

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