Monthly Archives: September 2009

As wise as a spider

Posted on by

Jack the dog and I take several walks every day, on opposite ends of a leash. This morning, something at ground level flashed and grabbed my attention. It was a large spider web stretched across the angle between a mail box post and the ground, glittering with dew drops.

While Jack sniffed the bushes, I studied the web. The spider was in residence, long legs emerging from a body the size of a pea. Crystal drops were her ready drink, and breakfast was being prepared, as she watched a mosquito struggle in the sticky strands.

As Jack and I resumed walking, an old proverb came to mind: “The spider takes hold with her hands and is in king’s palaces.” (Proverbs 30:28, KJV) This statement comes in a list of “four things that are little upon the earth but are exceedingly wise.” (verse 24)

A spider doesn’t need royal permission to come and go in the palace. Even if the king would rather not have her nearby, she’s there. Despite armed guards watching for intruders, the spider enjoys life with the king. She doesn’t request an audience or wait for permission. Though the throne room doors are bolted, she comes and goes at will.

Why does God label the spider “wise”? Maybe it’s because she’s willing to grapple with large obstacles, like the wall one thousand times bigger than she is. The verse notes that she “takes hold with her hands,” an interesting choice of words for a spider. I think it simply means she decides to do it. She grabs and reaches one tiny bit at a time until she conquers her massive obstacle. God has equipped her perfectly to defy gravity and walk straight to the top.

She also shows wisdom when she’s not intimidated by the king’s rank but does what God has programmed her to do. If she lives in a palace or a shack, it doesn’t matter to her.

The spider demonstrates still more wisdom in constructing her web so it will collect food and drink. If the web gets swept away, she begins to build another, without bemoaning the loss of the first.

I wonder if I could be wise, if I followed the spider’s example:

  1. to tackle giant obstacles one tiny step at a time without quitting;
  2. to believe God will equip me to do what he wants me to do;
  3. to make sure a person’s rank never determines how I act;
  4. to live contentedly with little or much;
  5. to make my home a place where loved ones find food, drink and security;
  6. to move forward, even if tragedy comes, without bemoaning the past.

A little spider seems like nothing more than a footnote in the world’s larger story. Yet she’s significant enough to rank a spot on God’s short list of things that are not just “wise” but “exceedingly wise.”

As Jack and I returned from our walk, we passed our neighborhood spider, resting comfortably while digesting her breakfast. Maybe she was pondering what tasty little something might come by for lunch. And wisely so.

Looking for God

Posted on by

Governments don’t have soul, and none of the congressmen who voted “yes” to the tax changes back in 1986, knew our family or intended to hurt us. With their “yeas” and “nays” they didn’t think about Nate’s business imploding as a result of the law change and didn’t see the struggle we’d have to keep milk in our refrigerator.

One of Nate’s favorite things to say during these difficult months, years, and eventually two decades was, “We soldier onward.” I loved that. He gave us the determination to keep marching forward when it would have been easier to quit fighting against overwhelming odds.

During those dark days I often stood in the check-out line at the grocery with a cranky baby on my hip and a near-empty purse over my shoulder. It’s difficult to decide what items to take off the belt to bring a total under $12. Milk, meat and veggies are out of reach when money is scarce, especially when trying to feed a crowd.

I became a pro at saving pennies. I told the kids to put their clothes back into the drawers after wearing them once, to get a second wearing (at least) before washing. That way we saved on expensive detergents. I cared for leftovers by the pea and kernel of corn, and I don’t mean from the serving bowls. I mean from the plates. Bits that were left on each plate were gathered to make one new serving for someone at the next meal. I learned to make soup, most recipes without meat, and we slurped it down, night after night.

During these stress filled days, I began looking for God like never before. I had to know if he saw our situation and how he might offer to help us.

I recognized him first on a bitter cold, icy morning when I stepped out the front door to drive the school carpool. There, covered in sparkling frost, were two large paper grocery bags full of food: potatoes, oranges, cereal, butter, bread, canned vegetables, cookies, peanut butter, soup and rice. Wedged into the bottom was a frozen ham.

The kids, leaning forward under the burden of school back packs, stumbled over each other to look into the bags. “Who? When? Why?” We never got the answers. But we all recognized God that day, and when he came, he taught us something important.

Although he lets us struggle in a million different ways, he’s always watching out for us. Pastor Erwin Lutzer says, “God lets us go into the fire, but he always keeps his hand on the thermostat.” I think he pays closer attention during painful times than when things are going well.

On that discouraging winter day back in the late eighties, God loved us so much that he leaned down from heaven and whispered into someone’s ear: “Drop two bags of groceries on Nyman’s front porch today.” For their obedience, I will always be grateful.

Fooled

Posted on by

When we eventually moved from our home of nearly 30 years, Nate had to surrender his position as one of three police commissioners in our suburb. The commissioners, appointed by the mayor and partnered with the police chief, were in charge of hiring and firing police officers. They also handled discipline cases. Nate loved the work and enjoyed his co-workers.

Being a commissioner had several perks:

1. If Nate wanted to carry a hand gun inside his suit jacket like James Bond, he could have, even though it was illegal for the rest of us. (He never did.)

2. If he was pulled over for speeding through town (which he was), he could have reminded the officer of his commissioner status and avoided tickets. (He never did.)

3. If he called the chief to say our teen drivers nearly got killed pulling out of our small street because of frequent speeders racing by, the chief would have done something about it. (He did, and he did.)

4. If he ever called 911 suspecting a break-in or sensing a threat to our neighborhood, the police would have responded in force.

Although Nate never dialed 911, the police did respond when a neighbor called. Our family was on a vacation 350 miles away when the young man caring for our animals back home reported seeing a living room light go on and then off. He was afraid to go in and feed the animals, fearing a burglary might be in progress.

Police responded quickly, approaching our darkened home with weapons drawn. Deciding the thief was inside, they called for reinforcements to surround the house. In short order, the newly formed swat team arrived, along with their “wall of light,” rows of floodlights mounted on a truck bed. It had the power to turn midnight into noon.

Our neighbor friend unlocked the door, and the swat team rushed in, filling the rooms with police presence. After hunting from crawl space to attic, however, they came up empty-handed. Then one of the policemen waiting out back on the unlit side of the house solved the mystery: black shoe prints cascading from a second floor window to the ground. The guy must have rappelled down and run into the woods, he reasoned.

The next morning, Nate received a call at our vacation cabin from the police chief, his good friend. “I think we scared him off before he did any damage,” he concluded. “Nothing looked disturbed.”

Nate was pleased with such a high-powered response from the police department and told our kids the dramatic story. When he was finished, our boys looked at each other and then spoke.

“All those footprints on the house? They’re ours.”

We stared wide-eyed at them, trying to force our thoughts from burglary to boys.

“We just thought it’d be fun to go down with ropes.”

After a moment of silence, we all burst out laughing.

Once we got home, we investigated. The light going on and off? A lose bulb.Things aren’t always as they seem.