Spiders

Dear Lord,

I have a strange, unwarranted, yet persistent fear of spiders.  So spiders are not something that I appreciate in my house as a general rule.  I have a contract with them… they’re fine outside (unless poisonous), but if they step into my house, they die.  Unfortunately, Your creations appear unaware of this contract.  

This is my first night without my husband for awhile (away on work business - yay for a job!), and my toddler is sleeping.  I had just gotten out of the shower and moved my backpack to snatch my computer and a rather large spider scurried away from beneath it.  Now why is it that my first reaction when my husband is here is to kill it (okay… maybe I step back and let him deal with it if I don’t have anything particularly handy…), and yet the first thing I did now that he’s away was to back away, allowing it to escape?  In. My. House.  Next to my bed even…

Yet, as I think about that rather large spider, (while I’m here on my bed) I find myself smiling.  It is Your creature, after all.  And while it is in a breach of contract, and I don’t particularly enjoy the idea of it in my bedroom, I do enjoy the knowledge that You are in total control of it.  That’s not to say You wouldn’t let it bite me… but if You were to allow that, it would be to my benefit.  And that, my Lord, is something to smile about.

So I thank You for spiders, Lord.  That You are in control of them, and that I don’t have to worry about them, because both they and I are in Your hands.  Thank You that You are truly God, sovereign over all, and that You used a spider to make me smile.

In Jesus’ Name, amen.