A Spider and Its Web

A Spider and its web

Matthew 13:8 "But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold."

One morning, where we used to live, it was the morning routine to take our dog out to our back yard.  On this day I noticed a large spider's web on the side of the apple tree.  I then noticed that the web carried on to a fir tree some six feet away. I wondered how that spider (which I did not see) spun that web from tree to tree. Then on my way back from walking the dog there was another web at the side of an arbor.  It was also large and this web was strung from arbor to arbor, a distance of at least 10 feet. I thought that must be some spider to spin a web a distance like that, and how on earth do they string the holding threads of their web over a distance up in the air? The web itself was beautiful, and perfect with its circles upon circles. I was in awe at the ability our Lord graciously gave this spider to create such a masterpiece.

And then the builder appeared on the scene. And it was the tiniest little spider, no more than 1/4 inch long, but it went about its work, crawling along the length of the span between the arbors. I was absolutely amazed at the size of it, yet its ability to build this web.

And so my thoughts went to the gifts the Lord has graciously given to each Christian and wondered, are we using to the fullest extent that which the Lord has given us? Are we following the Lord's leading in our daily lives?  Or do we desire to accomplish something we are not gifted for? Do we set out each day committing it to Him and then listening for that still small voice to lead us or show us what the Lord would have us do or teach us this day? or are we like Peter in John 21:3 who said "I go a-fishing" and they caught nothing. but when the Lord Jesus told them what to do with the net, "they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."

We all have gifts, let us use them to their fullest extent.. just like that little spider, we can accomplish things that might not seem great in the world's eyes, but will fulfill the purpose for which we are here.

So many times I used to see a spider web and just knock it down as a nuisance along the way in my travels.  I praise and thank the Lord that this day he opened my eyes to its beauty, and to the little creature who accomplished this masterpiece by the grace of God's gift to him.

vcg/July 2015