Learning from a Spider and a Lizard...

There is a spider that lives outside the main entrance of my home.  I am not a fan of spiders and my first thought was to kill it immediately...but when I saw him, I was very tired and I just didn't do it.  So, I left him alone.  It is now several days later and he is still there.  He doesn't seem to move.  Just sits in his web and watches the world go by.  So, I've decided since his is outside my home, I'm not going to bother him.  But I have given him a name.  I call him Henry.  I wonder what he looks at all day.  After all, not a lot happens outside the door of my home/office.  It is quite simply a stairwell. If you look up, you would see the entrance to my parent's home and an exit from the garage, but that is about it.  I wonder what he looks at all day.  Are there other bugs that stop in and pass the time of day with him?  Does he catch a lot of insects in his web?  It doesn't seem like it as I never see any.  Why doesn't he go somewhere where he'd have more insects around...if not for company, than for food.  But, he just stays in his corner...content for them to come to him.

Several years ago, I lived in a very small home in Pompano Beach, FL.  Lizards abound in South Florida.  They are just everywhere and one found it's way into my house.  Now the problem was, it lived on my ceiling and was very fast.  I couldn't reach him and by the time I would get a chair so I could get to him, he would have moved to another part of my ceiling once again out of my reach.  It was terribly annoying until I just decided that he was planning to stay around, so I named him as well.  His name was also Henry.  I chose it because I didn't know the gender of the lizard and figured if it was a girl, then it could be short for Henrietta. (That's the reason I chose Henry for the spider too).  Like Henry the spider, it never seemed to go very far.  Henry the lizard would pretty much just stay on my ceiling.  I wondered what it did all day while I was at work, but then decided I probably really didn't want to know.  But he helped keep the ants at bay (which seemed to be overrunning the area around my home) and that was quite nice of him.  But right outside my door were lots of other lizards.  I heard them scurry away when I would walk in the grass.  I wondered why he never tried to leave and join them?

Sometimes I think we, as Christians, are a bit like these two Henry's.  We often stay in one spot.  We don't see beyond our little world and really have no desire to branch out into another area.  We are thrilled when others come to see us, but going out ourselves simply doesn't appeal.  How sad when there are hundreds of people just outside dying to know our Savior.  But we have to be willing to go to them...for they probably won't just show up and ask about Him.

I'm going to let Henry the spider stay outside my door...then every time I leave, I can remind myself that I don't want to be like him.  I don't want to be stuck in one small corner content with only ministering to those who come to me.  I want to go out and see who God opens the door for me to talk to.  

Amazing what God can teach me...even through a spider and a lizard.  :-)