What a Spider Taught Me About Creativity and Frustration
a hiking reflection
The spider’s web inconveniences me as I walk down the trail early in the morning.
Or do I inconvenience her?
This is her home, her wood, her space.
Is the temporary frustration I feel anything compared to what it must be like to labor all day to build a web only for some stranger to destroy your work in a second.
If I walked slowly, more deliberately, and with more intention…
But maybe the spider isn’t bothered at all. Perhaps the spider is a much better contemplative than I, processing anger, disruption, and external circumstances differently than I do in my self-centered world.
When a project of mine doesn’t garner the attention or enthusiasm I feel I am deserved, I feel rejected, despondent, and wronged, as if I was owed something.
Yet, before the broken strands of the web touch the ground, the next web is already planned.
And it isn’t much longer before the spider spins again.
This is week two of my practice of Sabbath. On Fridays, if I write, I’ll write short reflections, poems, or blog-like entries. This one comes from my hiking journal
That’s such a thoughtful reflection Daniel it reminds me of Proverbs 6:6 which tells us Go to the ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise God often uses even the smallest of His creatures to teach us perseverance humility and patience Just like the spider who spins again after her web is destroyed we too are called to rise when life knocks us down for as Galatians 6:9 says Let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Your words are a great reminder that setbacks are not the end but often the beginning of God’s next plan for us When we face disappointment or feel overlooked we can remember Colossians 3:23 which encourages us And whatsoever ye do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men The spider doesn’t spin for applause but out of design and purpose and in the same way our calling is to keep building in faith regardless of who notices Our labor in the Lord is never in vain as 1 Corinthians 15:58 promises so even when webs are torn dreams delayed or efforts unseen we can rest assured that God sees and honors every strand of obedience woven in His name