Spiderweb

My friend, Jeff, dropped by our family compound, “Baldking  Mountain.”  It’s not really a mountain; it is more the edge where a plateau begins its descent to the basin where Nashville sits.  It’s “Baldking” because both the Baldwins and the Kings have their homes there.  This information has absolutely nothing to do with what is in the mental pot I’ve been stirring since Jeff’s visit.

Jeff had some business in the north part of Robertson County.  When he finished, he asked if it would be alright if he came to our home.  COVID, having severely limited access to face to face interaction with non-family, I encouraged him to do so. 

We sat on the front porch doing the social distancing thing.  It was a fantastic day to be outdoors.  In one of the quiet zones, which are regular occurrences when friends just let conversation roam about, Jeff mentioned the wonder of a large spiderweb extending between a tree, a porch column, and the eve of the porch.  Jeff uses the words “awesome” and “incredible” frequently.  He doesn’t use them because they are part of his quick-draw vocabulary.  He uses them because he has a wonder-eye for life.  Jeff is an artesian spring of fresh joy all the time.

I looked where he was pointing, but I saw nothing.  All I saw was the porch, trees, and the blue sky beyond.  He motioned toward the web, a place that has been the hunting grounds for several generations of a very industrious spider clan.  My friend said something like, “That is an incredibly large spider web.”

A dictionary definition of incredible would read something like “too extraordinary and improbable to be believed.”  But when Jeff uses the word, it refers to something that is divinely and mysteriously wonderous.  Spiderwebs fall into that category.  However, when I am walking in the woods, and an unseen web entangles my face, “incredible” is not what I am thinking.

To see the web, I had to get up from my chair and move to a viewpoint where the sun’s light hit the web at an angle that would reveal it to me.  From my sitting position, the web was invisible.  From his viewpoint, it was awesome.

There are many lessons we can discern from spiderwebs from engineering axioms to moral maxims.  Moral issues like, “If you do not cast a web, you will not catch your supper.” 

There is another lesson Jeff reminded me of, “Never insist the way you see something as the way every other person should see it.”  Or worse, “If I see it, then I must be right, and you must be wrong.”  This is the sort of thing that wrecks marriages, friendships and has decimated more than a few local church congregations.  This is not to mention our own nation’s two-party political system turmoil. 

Sound wisdom has been given that guides opposing parties to make a sincere effort to see the situation from an opponents’ viewpoint. Neighbors throwing rocks at each other will leave lots of cuts and bruises and leave behind unintended projectiles. Still, the crises of a corrupt neighborhood will not be peacefully advanced.

 Understanding my neighbor’s view will only bring a  more generous tolerance of their position. It will not remove the gap which separates.  I could have set in my chair and listened to Jeff’s description of the spiderweb as he saw it, but that’s about it.  I had to leave my position.  He was in his chair, and as much as I like Jeff, I was not going to sit in his lap.

Here is what I have learned: Until I see a set of circumstances from the viewpoint of my loving Father, whatever I see is wrong, I will never be right.  Only when I leave my opinion and move to adopt God’s truth will I ever be part of resolving the conflict between another person and me.

As long as a person holds to the idea that “I am right, and you are wrong,” conflict will only escalate.   This is true in all human relationships and political enterprises.  It will eventually destroy us as a neighborhood, nation, or as a family. 

Many are saying, “Jesus is the answer!”  That is a true statement.  The book of Revelations’ description of the end times demonstrates that even when Jesus comes back, some people will still cling desperately to their own ideas of happiness.   Jesus’ presence is not a solution.  Total surrender to Jesus as He reveals Himself in the Bible is the solution.  He is Lord!  He is either our Savior, delivering us from our wrong ideas of God’s creation, or He is our Judge, ushering us from the presence of God.   Only “under God” can we individually or collectively be “one nation” or “one” in marriage.  When I am the “one,” you are religated to be only an “other.”

A strong man may end a fight, but he cannot stop the hostilities.

Consider reading Ephesians 2:11-22

Photo – I apologize for the less than focused picture of the spiderweb Jeff and I saw.  I took the picture in a hurry several days later.