Spiders’ Webs

Have you ever walked through a spider’s web? It’s so uncomfortable and throws even the toughest person into a frenzy of swiping at the air and spinning around in circles. This happens to me almost every time I walk through a web, especially in the summertime. I’m already hot and sweaty and then I get these sticky, invisible strings all over me. Now, let’s be clear, I don’t hate spiders. They’re really helpful to the environment and I rarely kill them outside or inside (unless they’re poisonous). In our area, there are tons of earwigs- those creepy, pincer-laden, yucky bugs. I don’t see earwigs in my house and I think it’s because I don’t kill the spiders.

Before I get going too far down a tangent about our disconnection from the outdoors and irrational fear of spiders leading to our homes being overpopulated with other unpleasant critters, let me talk to you about webs. The spiders in our yard love to build webs on our windows, especially in the summer and autumn. They just hang out there, night after night, eating all the insects that they can catch. But in the morning, when the dew falls, their webs become these shadowy, glorious masterpieces. I’m always astounded by the intricacy and detail of the webs, that these large and useful things were made by a comparatively tiny insect. And the insect got the materials to build the web from their own body. Incredible. Magnificent. Until, of course, I walk right through it because I was too focused on catching my dog who snuck out the front door.

The spiders don’t seem to be too bothered, though. For all of our collective blundering and ruining of their homes, the spiders just keep re-creating webs day after day. It’s like they make the David or Mona Lisa six times a week (I’m going to assume that there’s at least one day during the week that nothing and nobody disturbs their work- even the spiders deserve a day off).

I hope you’re wondering why I’m going on and on about spiders’ webs. Maybe not, I am the kind of person who can talk all day about the beauty of the world around me. Today, though, I do have a point. When I look at a typical spider’s web, the kind that hangs on my window in September, there is a center point around which all the other strands connect. It’s the densest part of the web and the pattern for everything that surrounds it. Even to the farthest reaches of the web, you can see the pattern created at the center. There are also several other straight anchoring strands that go from the center of the web out to whatever it’s built on. In this case, my window. Today, I want to talk with you about the center of the web and its anchor points.

When I talk with my young friends about their lives, we inevitably come around to the topic of priorities and time management. Our culture has sold us the lie that we can do everything and shouldn’t have to sacrifice anything. It’s an exhausting way to live, but many of my friends are caught right in the middle of it. So, we usually begin the conversation talking about the most important things in their lives. Most of us are familiar with ranking our priorities and assuming that we will give the most time, energy, and resources to the thing at the top and so on down the list. It makes sense, to some degree. 

I think a better way to think of our lives, especially for people of faith and/or deep purpose, is as a spider’s web. You’ll have to begin by listing out the most important things in your life and then asking yourself this critical question: what’s the thing/idea/person/worldview that influences and impacts all of my other priorities and decisions? For me, Jesus and his way influence and impact all the other areas of my life more than anything else. I believe that the only way to follow Jesus is for him to be the most important thing in my life. The worldview taught and lived out by Christ is the only thing that makes sense of the world and actually does have something to say about everything I do, from the way I parent to how I cook my dinner.

So, when I’m thinking about my life and the way to live it best, I put Jesus at the center and let everything else shape up around him. If my life is a spider’s web, then Jesus being at the center means that he will be the pattern for all the other, less important, rings around him. He’ll be the pattern for the conversation that I’ll have with my daughter this afternoon. He’ll be the pattern for my leisure time and how I take care of my body. He’ll be the key influence in how I choose a career and also how I work in my chosen field. 

I hope that you’re seeing how the spider’s web is a lot more practical than a mere list. Most folks of faith would put their faith at the top of the priority list, meaning, as we’ve discussed, that they should put most of their time and energy into their faith. But the problem is, when we think about our life this way, we often end up in a shame spiral because we’re not praying for ten hours a day or always at the church. Having a mere list of priorities and not a holistic view of your life leads to compartmentalization. We disconnect our faith from our work from our family from our leisure time from everything else that makes up our life. 

Want to know a secret? I think that your life is a spider’s web, whether you realize it or not. I think that there is one thing/person/desire/whatever at the center of your life, driving every decision that you make and everything that you do. We can’t help it. Humans were designed this way from the very beginning. Biblical scholars would call this worship. 

The thing at the center of your life is the thing that you worship. Which is why this makes sense when you think about it in the context of faith. Not everyone is a person of faith, though. Even if you don’t ascribe to a particular religious system or worldview, there is still something at the center of your life and that something is what you worship.

If Jesus is the center of my life and the pattern for all the other things in my life, then what are the anchor points? What are the strands of web that go out from that same center to hold me fast on the windowsill of eternity? Glad you asked. 

If you’ve been around me for longer than fifteen minutes, I’ve either talked about The Lord of the Rings or spiritual disciplines. It’s just who I am. As much as I’d LOVE to discuss Middle Earth with you, that’s not why we are here today. The anchoring strands in our lives are spiritual disciplines. Some folks prefer to call them habits, routines, goals, whatever. That’s all semantics and, frankly, I don’t care what you call them as long as you’re aware of what they are because it’s not a matter of whether or not you have spiritual disciplines. You totally do. Everyone does. Let me explain.

Whether you planned it on purpose or not (and I sincerely hope that you did), you’ve got both a morning routine and an evening routine. You have a general way in which your day flows. There are some things within your day that shift given the time of year and season of life, but for the most part, your days follow a pattern. We’re human, it’s what we do. Now, let me ask you a question- do you think that what you do each day does something to you? If you ran fifteen miles everyday, it would have an impact on you. If you ate fast food everyday, it would have an impact on you. If you spent hours on your phone or listening to cable news everyday, it would have an impact on you. (Too close to home on that last one?)

The little things that you do in your life, the decisions that you make, and even the way that you spend your down time is making you into someone. Who are you becoming as a result of your actions and habits each and everyday? This is the central question that you have to answer when you consider spiritual disciplines, or the anchor strands of the web of your life.

These anchor strands don’t have to be overly-spiritual. They can, of course, be more traditional practices like prayer, Bible study, exercise, and reading before bed. But they can also be just on the edge of absurdity, like my refusal to own a microwave or a smart speaker. (For the record, I don’t think I’m the one that’s absurd with this one.) Regardless of how spiritual or absurd your anchor strands are, you’re going to be better off if you choose them on purpose, rather than just kind of letting them happen to you. If you do that, you’ll end up with your phone and cheetos being the anchor points of your life and those aren’t going to hold up when I come darting out the door after Charlie.

You only get one life and your one life really matters. You’re centering your life around something and anchoring yourself to that something and the world around you with habits that turn you into someone. Done well, your habits will make you more like the centerpiece of your spider’s web, following the pattern as you were designed to do. In my case, the habits and practices of my life are chosen on purpose to make me more like Jesus and more like who he designed me to be.

What’s at the center of your web? How are you tied to it and the world around you? When life gets difficult, will the center and the anchors hold?