Skip to main content

My Life As A Spider


Stupid spider!

The one I am referring to had been spinning a web between the side view mirror of my car and the driver’s side window for most of the summer.

Whenever I rolled down the window, the web collapsed.  Whenever I drove the car, the web would get shredded by the air flow alongside the car.

Spiders eat the insects that get stuck in their web.  I kept wondering how in the world this one could survive?  After all, no web, no insects, no dinner!

On top of that, why couldn’t the spider figure out the futility of spinning its web in such a bad place?  Ok, so spiders may not be stupid, but they probably can’t think or assess a situation to make it better.  If they could, this one should have figured it out long ago that it just wasn’t working. 

Hmm, sounds a bit like me!  At times, I live in my own little world, oblivious to the bigger things going on around me…

The Lord spoke to Job after he and his friends pontificated on all they thought they knew about God and His dealings with man:  “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?  Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and make you make it known to me.  Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me if you have understanding”.  (Job 38:4)

There are things I don’t understand and really can’t understand.  Does this mean I give up trying?

The Psalmist wrote:  “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  But I have calmed and quieted my soul… 

It sure looks like I shouldn’t be overly occupied with things that are beyond me.  Instead, I should calm and quiet my soul and let God be God.

And I certainly shouldn’t be very spider-like either, that is, repeatedly spinning a web only to have it collapse or be shredded by the wind! 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Excel Still More!

To excel, according to some of the meanings from a few dictionaries, is to surpass others, do extremely well, outdo, do something better than anyone else. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, we find the phrase “excel still more”.   It prompts the question:  if we are already doing something better than anyone else, why would we be encouraged to do even more? Perhaps it would be helpful to see the wording that other translations use for “excel still more” to see why we would be encouraged to do so.  Here is a sampling: • abound more and more • to keep doing so more and more • but try even harder • live that way more and more. • that you progress even more. • that you increase more and more in how you ought to walk Maybe it would also be helpful to see some other verses where the word “excel” is used: “Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.”...

Value Proposition

Value proposition:  it’s a marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service.  It should clearly and concisely communicate what customers can gain from selecting a particular brand over that of its competitors. In a value proposition, you don’t want your product to be viewed as being worth less than what your competitors offer.   But even worse, in a bit of a quirk of how letters and spaces can fall, if you take out the space between “worth” and “less”, you get “worthless”, which means something of no value.   If that word is used in conjunction with how your product is viewed by customers, it’s a word that will likely kill your brand. In the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul, in a sense, communicated some value propositions. In chapter three, he starts off with describing the value of some things that many considered as extremely valuable in that day and age.   They had to do with status and achievement in the reli...

Can't Get No Satisfaction

One of the songs that were popular in my youth was not particularly upbeat or helpful but it probably did express some of the angst of my generation.  It was not one that particularly resonated with me but as I recently read the book of Haggai, it did come to mind, well, at least some of the lyrics did.  It was the Rolling Stones song with the lyrics “I can’t get no satisfaction”.  Take a look at the chorus of that bleak song:   I can't get no satisfaction; I can't get no satisfaction; Gonna try and I try and I try and I try; I can't get no - I can't get no –   Now take a look at Haggai 1:6 – “ You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” It sure sounds like the people of Judah couldn’t get any satisfaction with the things of life that normally should have brought some type of s...