What we can learn from a spider

Please note: this post does discuss spiders. However, don’t just grimace and turn away – I promise this won’t scare you (and there are no pictures).

 

As most of you know, Aleynah is a bug collector. To be more specific: Mom is the bug catcher, killer, and poster, and Aleynah proudly shows “her” collection. However, I am ok with this as it helps me to learn about the creepy crawlies and reminds me there are some creatures we don’t need to be THAT afraid of. I recently found another (and yes, I say ANOTHER) giant wolf spider for Aleynah’s collection. This time however, this eight-legged arachnid was a mommy. She had hundreds of little spiderlings on her back. As I was observing her in the large clear plastic container at my work station, I began to be more curious about this mommy and her babies. As I gathered information, some of which I knew and some that was new, a few things really stuck out to me as a mother and provider for my family.
 
First, wolf spiders are very protective of their egg sacks. Most will carry their sacks with them in order to keep it protected. If mom does leave the sack, it is not for a long time and she returns to it quickly and is fierce to defend it. When the spiderlings hatch, they climb onto mommy’s back and stay there for several weeks. They feed off the eggs and yolk of their eggs for those few weeks. They go everywhere mommy goes. One of the coolest things is that if one of those little ones fall off, she will stop and wait until it gets back on before she continues her travels. What a great mom! Wouldn’t it be awesome if all moms were that way? Whenever our child falls, we are there to pick them up. We don’t just say “get up”, but we stop what we are doing to wait and make sure they are safe before we continue on. I think this is what God does for us. We fall sometimes, sometimes really hard. He doesn’t just say “get up and catch up”, but he stops and waits patiently for us to get back on top. He loves and cares for us individually. If one falls, he will patiently wait for our return.
 
Some other things I found interesting about the spider is that they have large obvious eyes (8 in fact) that help them to see. However, the eyes do not move about like ours do. If they want to see things in different directions, they move their body so they can see better. Wow! These spiders are ever watchful. They take action to see what is around them. They have eyes everywhere, but they need to move to use them properly. Isn’t this how we should be? We need to use our eyes to be ever watchful and to see what is around ourselve and our families. We also need to move. We cannot have blinders on or think that we or our family is protected from the world just because we are there. We need to move around and use our eyes to see what is surrounding us if we want to keep our family safe.

Wolf spiders bite only out of defense; if provoked and prodded. We should be as careful. We need to be slow to be offended and be careful not to offend. There are times in our lives where we need to bite, but only if absolutely necessary. We need to make sure that our family is our focus and if we do so, we have lessened our desire to be so quick to bite.

Camouflage is how a wolf spider protects itself against their enemies. Oh what we could learn from a spider. If we are modest in our clothing, honest in our dealings, and have integrity our camouflage will help protect us from the evils that lurk in the world. I am not saying this is a sure thing, because as we know, spiders can be caught. However, if we are using our camouflage in the best way we can, this will help up live a happier life.    

I love that wolf spiders spend the most part of their lives engaged in hunting and working tenaciously at being parents. They spend most of their life providing for their family and caring for them with all of their might. As parents we have a responsibility to care for our families. We are to provide for them financially, mentally, spiritually, physically, and in all ways to help them to learn and grow and be law abiding citizens. We should wear out our lives making sure they are loved and cared for in a way no other can do.

Finally, wolf spiders are territorial, they do not spin webs, and they are one of the fasted runners among spiders (up to 2 feet per second). They are watchful and protective of their family and home, they do not let things hold them back, and they are active and do not wait for someone to come to them. They seek out what they need. What application this has to our lives! We should ever be watchful of our family and home. We are the leaders in our homes and we need to watch to make sure it has all the protection we can provide for it, for our families sake. We need not build webs, or things that will hold us back. We are in charge of our life and our choices. We need to make the kind of choices for ourselves and our families that will not have consequences to follow us and keep holding us back. We need to be actively searching the good. Actively seeking the best things will bring us happiness and joy, not only to ourselves, but to our families as well.