PRACTICE: Have you ever given any thought to your resistance to tension?
In early autumn, I had the privilege of walking out my front door and seeing a gigantic spider occupying a gigantic web. I was fascinated by both. I did not see the construction of the web. The red spider hung around for more than a week.
Webs allow spiders to catch prey without exerting a tremendous amount of energy. It is very efficient. However, the amount of energy to construct the sticky silk structure is tremendous, so much so that spiders may eat their own web to recoup some of the energy used in spinning. The spider is uniquely designed for web making. Constructing a spider web is a feat of nature and a miracle.
Web construction begins with the connection between two objects that the spider could not crawl across. It starts with an exceptionally fine adhesive thread that can drift on a faint breeze across the gap. When the thread sticks on the other end and the spider feels a change in the vibration, the job of constructing the web commences. Upon completion the spider either sits on the edge or in the center of the web and patiently waits for the prey to be entrapped. FYI, webs serve spiders in many other ways. It is almost unbelievable but the tensile strength (resistance to breaking under tension) of a spider’s silk is greater than that of the same weight of steel.
I was a bit sad when the spider departed, perhaps leaving because the web was weakened by mechanical stress, dust accumulation or it became prey to something else. Its departure left behind a cobweb to be dismantled by me or nature.
I see life lessons in almost everything. The spider experience led me to ask myself some questions: What is my tensile strength? How good am I at strategizing and planning? How patient am I? How good am I at creating something wonderful in my life and the life of others? Do I have a vision of where I want to go? Am I adaptable? The list could go on, but the final question is am I more likely to be seen actively creating and occupying a web or a spider caught in a cobweb (which you will never see unless the spider is dead) collecting dust waiting to be knocked down and discarded in the dust cloth of others?
Phil. 4:13
PONDER THIS THOUGHT---Spiders remind us that patience and discipline are how we create and get what we want in life.
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