The Spider Who Never Gave Up

No. No! No-no-no-no-NO! AAAAH! Aw man, this is getting ridiculous. I just want a normal day. ONE DAY—that’s all. I just want to relax and not have to rebuild everything over and over again, and again, and again, and—you guessed it—AGAIN! I can’t catch a break, so I have resolved to remain useful. I must do something to survive, but what kind of existence is this? I instinctively go through the same routine with the same result—back where it all started. I guess this is my lot in life. I can’t think of anything else to do, so I will do what I know I CAN do. I will begin again…this time, I will make it better. Now, I must focus on the task at hand.

I can only imagine what the tiny spider must think each time he has to rebuild his web when I leave for work. Every night, he attempts to bridge his abode to my truck. It first started at the little oak tree in my small backyard. He would faithfully drape his web to the passenger side door of my red truck. I am sure he was excited to have something so close to the tree that he could anchor his web to, but every day—without fail—I would have to leave for work and tear apart his hard work. I didn’t think much of it at first, because it was more of a nuisance and I had to get to work, but for him it was totally life-altering.

I must say that I admire his persistence. At some point he must have instinctively got the notion that the problem was the oak tree. Maybe it was the ninja moves my wife made each time she found herself trying to enter my truck and unwittingly trespassing his nearly invisible barrier, which startled her into a frenzy. Perhaps he was as frightened as she was? Maybe he associated the truck and tree combination as unstable due to both being prone to movement—one by the wind, the other by my frequent departures. Whatever the cause, he has decided to move and now creates his daily web bridges from the back side of my house to the tailgate of my truck.

I caught a glimpse of him in the sunlight yesterday morning after returning from a swim. I mentioned that I was sorry I had destroyed his beautiful masterpiece. I went on to explain that if he kept building his web on my truck, it would continually be destroyed. I recommended that he consider moving elsewhere. I told him we have several retired folks in our community who mostly walk or ride their golf carts—leaving their cars parked for more extended periods of time. I suggested he might find a more suitable place to build his web down the street, in their yard; nevertheless, he seems to want to hang around, and I cannot bring myself to harm him. After our most recent talk, I realized this might be God’s way of teaching me a lesson on persistence through this tiny, eight-legged creature.

Being drawn to my imagination, I began to think of a name for the little guy—CHARLIE! It popped into my head so fast. I was reminiscing about the story of Charlotte’s Web and Charlie sprouted forth in the mind. Now, I will refer to him as Charlie. He is not very big. As a matter of fact, his leg span barely extends the circumference of a dime. It is amazing how much web he can spin as a little fellow. I can only imagine his daily existence is akin to a spider’s version of Groundhog Day. He takes life one day at a time and resolves to make it better each day he is given. That’s really the lesson here—make the most of today’s opportunity. Don’t let the failures of the past keep you down. Likewise, don’t let your fear of future uncertainties keep you from thriving today. Someone is watching how you respond. Your faithfulness might just be the determining factor to keep them moving forward. Don’t give up! Thanks so much for reminding me of that again today, Charlie.