“Squash it, Mamaw! Squash it!”
Right outside of Mamaw Girdle/Myrtle’s bedroom window was the biggest spider I had seen in the five years of my life. It had a colorful, bulbous body with long black hinged legs. In my child’s mind, it was a hideous monster.
“I’m not going to squash it. It’s a writing spider,” she answered. I was amazed because the only other creature that I knew who could write was Snoopy. I wondered if this was a skill some creatures really had.
“What’s it writing?” I asked. She laughed. “It doesn’t really write anything. It spins designs in the web that resembles something written. Look at how pretty its designs are. It’s like a piece of art.”
Mamaw Girdle/Mrytle was right. Since that day, I have looked at some spider webs in a different light. They are especially pretty when they are wet with dew and the sunlight shines on them and there’s no icky spider on them.
Recently, Tim and I have been doing repair work on the back deck. We were standing under it when something sparkly caught my eye. Hanging out from the tree above us was a spider’s web. It had the classic round web design with the geometric shapes, but what really amazed me was its size. That was the biggest web I have ever seen. I pointed it out to Tim, who was just as amazed as I was. This thing was over a foot wide. I’m not exaggerating. Tim thought it was closer to being two feet wide. And it was so high up that Tim could comfortably walk under it. I didn’t even try that.
Something else caught our attention. I asked Tim, “Where is the other side of the web hooked to?” The left of it was attached to tree on the left; whereas, the right side of it appeared to be hanging in the air on nothing. Tim has a little building that’s about fifteen feet from the tree. We first thought the web was attached to the building, but it wasn’t. We were finally able to see a couple of thin shiny strands of web attached to another tree. Now get this, the tree was a good thirty feet from the round part of the web. How in the world was that spider able to accomplish that?
“But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?” Job 12:7-9 (KJV)
How do spiders know how to build their webs? How do birds know how to build their nests? I could go on with many more questions like that. I know the answer is instinct, but where did instinct come from? I believe if spiders, birds or other creatures could answer, they would say, “It comes from The Lord.” They know who leads their lives and gives them their abilities. Do you?
I tried to take a picture of the large web, but it didn’t show up in the image. While that is a disappointment, I was relieved I never saw the spider who spun that gigantic web. If I had, I probably would never go in the backyard again.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.