What This Single Girl Does with a Spider

I don’t often suffer from writer’s block, but when I sat down at my computer a few minutes ago, I had no idea what I was going to write about.  Lord, I need an idea, I prayed as I gazed upwards; and as if in answer to my prayers, there in the corner of my very white ceiling was a big, old, ugly spider. 

I ran for my camera thinking maybe I could do a little post about how single girls handle spiders.  With amazing bravery I snapped pictures, screaming only once when the spider scuttled toward my hand holding the measuring tape. 

After capturing Mr. Ugly in a jar, smashing him with a shoe, and snapping a few more pictures, I settled down at my computer.

Wonder what kind of scary stuff they have on the internet about spiders, I said to myself as I typed “spider bites” into the search engine.   A few minutes later I was feeling anything but brave as I compared my pictures to those I’d found of the poisonous male hobo spider.  My spider looked amazingly like the ones on the web, and I made the mistake of reading a few of the “I got bit by a hobo spider” stories.  The site I was viewing said, “Don’t waste time, buy traps;” and I couldn’t write down the location of the nearest dealer fast enough.

Of course I’m a bit of a hypochondriac; so in an effort to help myself sleep at night, I decided to try one more search.  Click, click, click went my fingers on the keyboard as I entered “hobo spider look alike.”  Much more reassuring information was popping up on my monitor.  Now I was reading about several kinds of spiders which are similar in appearance to the frightening hobo variation.

Aha, so he’s probably just an imitator, I tried to comfort myself.  My skin was still crawling as if it had a hundred spiders scampering around on it.

Of course my arachnid couldn’t help the fact that he looks like, and I am working under the “look alike” assumption now, the poisonous variety.   He wasn’t trying to be like his malicious cousin.  He’s just a spider; and in my opinion, all spiders appear somewhat evil.  To me, they all look kind of the same – scary.

Lately, I keep running into Christians who believe they need to behave a little bit like they aren’t Christians so other people will feel comfortable around them.  It’s as if they think being a Christian is the equivalent to being the ugly spider, and being the spider is like being the good thing.  This method of thinking, however, is contrary to what the Bible teaches.  III John 1:11 gives a strict warning, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.  He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.”

People who are searching for God are not looking for more ugliness.  They want to find something good – something that will lead them to a better life, and you can be that goodness.  You can be a beautiful imitator of Christ.

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