The Itsy, Bitsy Spider

At the end of last week, I was driving to the grocery store, minding my own business.  I hummed along to the CD in the player, occasionally blurting out a stray chord or two. Thankfully, no one else was in the truck. . .or so I thought.

A quick movement directly in front of me caught my attention.  A small, black spider was descending via her web which seemed to be attached to my visor.  "Okay," I said to myself, "don't panic.  It's just a spider--a little, tiny spider.  Just watch the road."  But as hard as I tried, I couldn't seem to focus on anything but that stupid spider hanging only inches from my face.

My first instinct was to swing at it, but I knew that would only cause the spider to fall into my lap, and then I would spend the rest of the day feeling like something was crawling on me.  No, blindly slapping at it was not an option.  I prayed for a stoplight where I could carefully wrap the spider in a tissue or something.  Why is it you can't catch a red light when you want to?  As I stared ahead, willing my eyes to stop focusing on the spider, the unthinkable happened. . .the spider fell.

If it survived the fall, it didn't survive the lap-slapping I did for the next ten minutes.  I'm sure fellow drivers were concerned about this crazy woman squirming around in her seat and slapping herself repeatedly.  It's a wonder I didn't get pulled over.  Wouldn't that have been an interesting conversation?  "No, officer, I haven't been drinking.  I was just playing pat-a-cake with the itsy bitsy spider."  To which his response would be, "Ma'am, would you please step out of the car?"  Thank the Lord for ALL his blessings!

As I laughed/slapped my way to the store, one thought kept ringing through my mind:  there's a lesson in this somewhere.  Immediately, Hebrews 12:1-2 came to mind:  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

"Looking unto Jesus."  Some days it's just as hard for me to look unto Jesus as it was for me to look past the spider and out the windshield.  No matter how hard I try, there's always something to distract me.  Family, friends, work, hobbies, personal desires, doubt, fear.  The list could go on for miles.  It's so easy to lose my focus.  It's so easy for me to focus on anything and everything but Christ.  But then I am reminded of what could have happened if He had lost his focus.  What would life be like if Christ had been distracted from His true purpose:  the cross?  Life would not be worth living, and He knew that.  That's why He didn't allow anything to distract Him.  He set His face toward the cross and never looked back.  If Christ can do that for me, the least I can do is attempt to do the same for Him.

He carried His cross.  It's time for me to carry mine.  But you see, I have an advantage.  Christ will help me carry mine.  He will add His strength to my own.  He will accomplish through me what I could never accomplish on my own.  I only need to be willing!

Did I mention I hate spiders and all other creepy crawly things?

*****Excerpt from Lilting Laments of a Looney Lass*****