The sun was climbing high into the sky as I drove my kids to their homeschool tutorial. The earth had been blanketed by a heavy fog that was still clinging to the land, giving the hills a soft-focus. We rounded the curve that marked the near-end of our trek when, all around us, we noticed them: Thousands upon thousands of gossamer bowls clinging to the tall blades of grass and the lower branches of the newly-green trees.
What has hatched overnight and spun all these webs? Is this good or is it a plague?
My imagination might have gone a little crazy for about thirty seconds.
I wanted to take a photo SO badly, but I figured manhandling my cell phone at 70+ miles per hour would set a very poor example for my future drivers, and we were running late so stopping on the side of the road to explore would make for an awkward arrival after classes had already begun. Therefore, I made a mental note to take the time necessary to document this phenomenon on the way home.
We arrived at the tutorial in the nick of time and mentioned what we saw to the tutors, still in awe over the sheer multitude of the webs. They had seen them before, of course, and said the webs are always there, just not visible until the dew settles on them. That got me to thinking, as nature often does.
I kissed my babes goodbye and hit the road for the thirty minute drive home, prepared for a quick detour and mini photo session.
Except they were gone. I squinted to try and see them, maybe picking out a couple here and there if I looked really hard but surprised that in the span of fifteen minutes the lifting of the fog had rendered the thousands of webs almost completely invisible!
“Lord, what do you want to teach me?” I spoke out loud, knowing God always has a parable waiting for us in His creation. It declares His glory. All of it, always.
I drove the rest of the way home in silence, waiting as my mind pieced together truth and compared what I had seen to what I know from Scripture.
James 1:25 (MSG) says,
But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
As a writer, I have found it necessary to keep a way of jotting down notes on hand at all times because I never know where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing when inspiration hits. And I can make mental notes all the live-long day but by the time I get home to my computer I will draw a complete blank when I try to recall what it was that made my heart burn earlier in the day. Every. Single. Time. This applies to my walk with God as well!
He is constantly working on us, dealing with weakness, strengthening our strengths, molding and shaping and purifying our lives by revealing the “webs” that have infested our lives. Like the early morning dew, settling heavy on the land and revealing what has been there all along, God gently settles His attention on the things we thought we had hidden. This is “the revealed counsel of God” mentioned in the above passage.
And if we are willing, the revelation is beautiful.
It is a loving Father who disciplines his child. It is a good and faithful God who refuses to leave us as we are because He sees in us who we will become. It is a tender and attentive Husband who leads and protects His Bride, guiding her away from harm, revealing and washing away the stains imposed upon her by the struggle of living in this fallen world. He knows we are dust, but never leaves us in the dust.
Oh, how He loves us.
Be encouraged today, dear one. When you are confronted by your sins and the realization of what has been allowed to lurk in your life threatens to throw you into shame, look up. Your Heavenly Father is busy, working ever-so-gently to clear out the webs and reveal the bright spring green that is your life in Him! The window of opportunity is often short, like the sunrise as it crests over the far hills, so take notice when the revelation occurs and let God do what He does best.
He makes all things new.
A Life of Simple Joys 