Spider Surprise and God

There seems to be a regular supply of spiders in our house. I kill a couple a month. And our house is big enough and some rooms are occuppied infrequently enough that occassionally I stumble upon a web, usually along the floor board. With Baby Marx now into the self-propelled mode, we are more attentive to floor hygiene and last night after Bible study I was vacuming, sweeping and mopping. When I got to the breakfast room (one of those places we rarely use) I was surprised to see a fairly large spider and it's web on the wall behind the table. Then, on second look, I got a bigger surprise. Dancing up and down a string on the web was a very small spider, easily 1/10th the size of the first spider. And suddenly I saw that the bigger spider was kicking and shaking for all it was worth. I have never seen this before. A spider caught in a spider web...

The irony was too much for me to ignore. I sat in the chair and watched the proceedings. Up and down the tiny fellow glided, staying just out of reach of the large fellow's mouth. the big guy only occassionally gave resistance. When he did so it was violent and ineffective. I am sure spiders do not think, but if they did the big guy, who no doubt  had done his fair share of capturing and killing, was probably amused by the paradoxical realization that this little pipsqueak was going to do him in.

After a couple of minutes, several of  the legs were out of play. Tiny was coming in to add some webbing and then scurrying away. After five visits the big fellow had lost freedom of movement in half his limbs. The sheer difference in size, though most of it is those long legs, was amazing. It was a reminder that little fellows can do the job, too. In another time or place I might have been content to allow the entire operation unfold. It would have been interesting to see how Tiny consumed the big guy. But as Frost once daid, "I have miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep." A pieace of kleenex, a well aimed swipe and two spider carcasses later (a big spot and a tiny spot) I was back to sweeping and then mopping.

And that stuck with me as well. The two spiders, unaware of the wider surroundings, were engaged in their last meal. Tiny thought he was the victor and was careful not to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. He was very careful. But his care was useless because he lived in my kitchen on my wall and my baby is not going to crawl into his mess. And no matter how careful he was, he just could not forsee someone 1000 times bigger. But as I removed those spiders I found myself looking up. What hand was preparing my end? What choices were being made far away from my perview which will reduce me to a spot?

On September 11th I remember the emotions of watching the towers come down. My own personal reflections went in this direction. I wondered about office politics. I wondered about people who were worried about losing their jobs and people who were excited about new promotions. I wondered about people who were having affairs, or maybe struggling with the aftermath of having just ended one. I thought about all the worries and concerns, great and small, of each of those people. Perhaps some of them felt trapped and others were greedily anticipating devouring their own prey. Each and everyone had a list of "things going on" and all of them were no doubt, to their own satisfaction, being careful enough. And then a plane landed in their office and blew up and fire and chemicals and smoke replaced all the daily worries and concerns. Some went immediately to their deaths. Others took longer to reach their end. And every one of them is just like us.

The dimension of faith is the belief that as we spin our webs and survive day to day, we all know there are other hands at work. All we have accomplished may be wiped out in a second. This week may see a nuclear holocaust in Israel or a terrorist bomb in our local Kroger. Someone changing a radio station, or checking a text, or just plain driving without sufficient care could plow into you or me and make short order of our daily to-do list. Whatever the 'beyond' has in store, it, too, is under the watchful gaze of another set of eyes. For all life's (seemingly) meaningless suffering and tragedy, ironic messes (spiders caught in spider webs?) and being in the wrong place at the wrong time (and getting swept and mopped away); yes, for all that we cannot understand and control there is still that quiet voice. It has spoken and will speak again. "Fear Not. I am here."

So this morning I made lunches and walked the dog. I said my prayers and wrote my blog. I now head off to teach a class on Clement of Rome and Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. And later I will do PT and some marriage counseling. And all of it will be done, carefully, and all of it may be just another day, probably will be another day. But perhaps this is when I become a spot on a kleenex. or you. And if so, that is okay, because the Father of Jesus is also watching. And whatever else happens, that is enough!