CREEPING THINGS

The things most dangerous are not always obvious, they are lurking somewhere just beneath.

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I wish I could present this image a little less jarring, like a children’s picture book—a sweet little flap, harmless and playful, gently lifted, to reveal what lies underneath.

But this is not the story of innocence.
In fact it is the opposite of naive things.

This is the image of my bedfellow. Stark and disturbing. Hard to take in.
In my mind, nothing childlike about it. Like the life we so often choose
[through our actions] to live.

Surprisingly, my subject is not the spider, although he symbolizes far more than you think. Instead, the encounter emphasizes the vulnerability of a woman who had what she would describe as a very difficult week.

Enter the creature with eight eyes and eight legs—there is so much auspicious about him, even before my story begins.

I see him, apparently, seconds after he sees me, in the last place I would expect—climbing through my sheets.

Hours before our encounter, I will share with heaping spoonfuls of humility, Ron and I had spent the evening in difficult conversation about feeling unguarded and unprotected…of all things.

Somewhere during our argument, I abruptly retreated to bed.

This delay. A decision to allow distance between us,
summoned something uninvited to creep in.

How many times have you wrongly judged that some disagreement or indiscretion was really “no big deal?”

I am clutching the remote when I see him [of course] on Ron’s side of the bed. He is not merely crawling aimlessly but in what I can only describe as “attack mode,” heading straight for me.

If you are wondering, the remote is an effective weapon of mass destruction. The vacuum, ideal for disposing of evidence.

Creeping Things. What have you allowed to sneak its way in?

Some events come to us in such bizarre and well-timed fashion that we are left with nothing else but to assume their meaning is particular, their origin Divine.

This is how my mind works, in any case. And for the next hour I poured through every reference I could find on the meaning of this fated and undeniably orchestrated encounter. There is both lore and spiritual reference regarding the symbolism of the spider, enough to fill a book.
But this over everything else, is what I want you to hear:

What we deem as “no big deal”—

Simple disagreements,

Harsh words spoken in the moment,

Unresolved conflicts—

Has the power to shift our tomorrows in ways we may never intend or expect.

Most of what we go through, this creeping in of unwanted micro aggressions in our lives, is not only result of what we allow, but what we invite.

Taking literary liberties, this spider is living, breathing evidence of what moves right in, under the radar, behind our back, between the sheets.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
I wonder if it ourselves and not the “other” that we most-often mislead.

When we deny the transgression,

when we tell ourselves the situation [on its own] will go away.

when we make space, if only a little for separation,

we are ultimately responsible for how the transgression makes us feel.

This spider was not some strange bedfellow, but a macabre and somewhat terrifying reminder of what unresolved conflict brings.

Do not let the sun go down on your anger.
Not a suggestion but a directive, edict, command.

If a spider can be a blessing, I suppose this not-so-little guy was.
I needed the visual reminder. Scary as it is.

Sometimes we must be jolted into a different reality, literally shoved out of our comfort zone. In this case, out of my cozy bed.

All of life is a lesson. No insignificant moment exists.
But there is a happily ever after to this story.
The evening ended with “I’m so sorry”…and a kiss.

 NOTES:

 Despite what others would have us believe, we, every single one of us, are weavers of our own fate.

Have you ever watched a spider weave her web? She does so with great patience, sacrificing a piece of who she is with every persistent motion. Encountering a spider may serve as a message of the need for greater perseverance in our lives.

A spider’s web is a masterpiece, each one unique as the homes we create for ourselves. With the spider, design and protection are intrinsic, they both go hand-in hand. This is how we were created, to revere both Form and Function as equally essential in our lives.   It’s extraordinary that the spider literally births its home. This is the essence of Sanctuary Living: Our sanctuaries are a manifestation of who we are…an outward expression of what is going on in the interiors within.  

While we label the spider as “creepy,” it’s fascinating that, with her eight eyes and eight legs, the spider  is a walking illustration of “infinity,” a reminder of endless possibility and the circle of life.

The transluscent spider’s web is a masterfully crafted reminder of the significance of the unseen, the importance of being mindful, and the value of discernment with people and in situations where intentions are not always fully expressed or revealed.

Of all the inherent messages of the spider, this one most-resonates with me: The web represents the veil of material reality woven over life-changing truths. I love that God uses His creation to remind us of His presence in everything we go through.