Spiders

I don't like spiders, I have a small fear of them - only because I've seen and heard about some pretty nasty bites. I worry more about my kiddos getting hurt by spiders than myself. I just don't like them around!
Today, we were having a great time outside (I sooo love the Fall!) when one of the kiddos was playing inside/outside/inside/outside the play house. When I went to join in on the play, I was greeted by this big NASTY black and yellow THING with a nice big round, full sack of babies hanging over her.
Ack - it's still making the hair on my neck stick up when I think about it.

The fear is unrealistic. The only thing that calms me down is thinking of the end of Charlotte's Web, when Char dies and her babies find homes somewhere else - often far far far away (okay, maybe I fabricated that part, but stick with me.... let's just keep on keepin' on thinkin that those babies are going to never-never-land, m'kay?) I realize that most spiders are completely harmless. And yes, I know that they are more afraid of me than I am of them. I realize that I'm a giant to them. But? Eeeew.

Here's the queen of the backyard that was gracing the doorway of the playhouse. (ICK!!!)


When I saw her, I immediately wondered how many others there were in the vicinity. I eyeballed all the dead crickets by the house door (good job spraying, honey!) and wondered what size spiders would be eating them for lunch. I always do a web check on and around the swingset before letting the kids go over there... I break all the spider webs so that the kids won't walk into them. Today, there was one that stretched from one tree to the other - not a short distance. And I immediately became jittery... What kind of massive creature built this HUGE web? And then I see her... a small, brown, eight legged one. She was small by my judgement, but I still didn't want her around me. Her web was strong and thick.
But, when I think about how many spiders there are in the yard, and how many different kinds, my fear slowly subsides. It's easy for me to forget to see the forest through the trees. I zone in on my own little surrounding area, forgetting how big God's world is. My focus is on me, my kids, my business, my backyard, my house. I forget about the relevancy of that one or two garden spiders in the vast scheme of things. God's world is massive huge.

And now I wonder how often fear and panic over something small cause us to forget it's irrelevance. How often God sees us overreacting because something, to us, seems so large. When really, it's just another small part of God's big world.

I still want to kill it, though :)