A Lesson From Nature-The Spider
by Helen Dowd

Do you know that teachers and parents are not the only ones who teach us lessons, and that school is not the only place we can learn? Yes. God teaches lessons too? 

“HOW?” you ask. One of God's ways to teach is through NATURE. If we open our eyes we can learn lessons from some of God’s smallest and most insignificant creatures. Proverbs 30:24-28 tells us this: “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:...The ants....The conies (a kind of rabbit)....The locusts....The spider.” (King James Version) 

This lesson is on diligence, or perseverance, and its teacher is one of God’s most despised creations:

THE SPIDER

 

“The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” Proverbs 30:28. (KJV) 

Industrious spider,
spinning magically,
a lacy home,
placed so invisibly:
a perfect pattern,
hung precariously.
To lure your prey,
you wait
so patiently. 

And should a breeze
that wafts so silently
across your labyrinth--
built so carefully--
destroy you web,
most unintentionally,
you build again,
undaunted,
tirelessly. 

Mysterious spider,
hiding secretly
in royal palace
or in squalid den.
You wait for naught
to weave your silky maze.
You have no fear:
you’ll snare your
prize again. 

Tenacious spider,
spin your awesome web.
May nature then,
with glistening drops of dew,
adorn your lace by
adding shimmering light.
And let all eyes behold
th’ ethereal
sight.

Just watch the spider at work, as I did, outside my office window. She never tires of her job, and she never stops until it is finished. She does not become discouraged when things don’t go her way. She does not give up. She just starts again.

 

 

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Copyright 2002 by Helen Dowd