Consider the Spiderweb

CONSIDER THE SPIDERWEB

They appear overnight in the least expected places--dangling across doorways, stretched from house to fence post, or draped across your car’s side mirrors. Spider webs are annoying yet fascinating works of silky art.

Back when our son and daughter were very young, we took them camping at a nearby lake. One morning I tiptoed away from our campsite to fish down at the water's edge. How I loved waking up when the day was brand-new and breezy, when the only noise I could hear was birdsong wafting down from dawn-warmed treetops.

Inching my way down the sloping pathway, I found myself eye-to-eye with the biggest, ugliest black spider I'd ever seen. After the hair on the back of my neck settled down, I eased forward for a closer look. Although the spider had caught me off guard, what interested me most was its lacy web.

I'd spent half my life swiping at similar spider webs, but until that moment I hadn't paused long enough to really consider their intricate details. Morning had back-lit the web, illuminating hundreds of tiny dewdrops. The display was breathtaking--a web of sparkly diamonds draped across the trail.

I'm told that the orb web--a common variety that most of us find draped between our tomato stakes--is the result of God-given programming. No matter how many such webs a spider spins, each one will resemble the next. They're look-alikes!

Cunning scientists, trying to trick nature, have gone so far as to drug spiders. Drugged spiders will temporarily gain the ability to alter the original design of their webs, but get this: Once the drug's effect has worn off, they return to the naturally programmed pattern they were born to spin.

Those scientists have also discovered that if a spider inherits a genetic flaw that causes it to spin a defective web, it will continue that same pattern for the rest of its life. No matter how long it weaves, or how busy it appears, that spider cannot improve upon its finished product.

How thankful I am that we humans aren't programmed and locked into a pre-set pattern for life. Instead, under the watchful care of our Creator, we're free to use our talents, abilities, and gifts.Each of us possesses the ability to spin a special "web" with our lives, a web of influence that has the potential to positively influence our world.

The raw material we need to fulfill our unique purpose is right at our disposal, thanks to a loving God who majors in details--even the lacy details of a single spider web suspended at the edge of a lake.

As a child, I hated anything creepy-crawly, except for caterpillars. Caterpillars were soft and fuzzy and could be dropped into a Mason jar with sticks, leaves, and a little water. I loved the process of watching them build a cozy cocoon. Countless butterflies squeezed from their cocoon and flew away from their Mason-jar home.

Today's books for kids provide such a wonderful view of the insect world. If I'd had these spider books, I probably would not have squished them with my shoe or run squealing from their webs. It has been said that knowledge is power. It's also a great way to diffuse fear.

Here are some great spider-related websites for the scaredy-cats in your life:

• Spiderzrule
• Spiders at Enchanted Learning
• Spiders Puzzler at National Geographic for Kids
• Answers to Kids' Questions about Spiders at Scholastic.com

And hold onto your hats, because this National Geographic video of the World's Largest Spider will freak out even you spider-lovers out there.