There Are No Disorganized Spiders

There Are No Disorganized Spiders

I was watching what I call a “fall” spider make its web on our deck and I wondered if it were a boy or a girl. I guess I could Google which one does that work, but that’s not really the point of my essay today. What really got Nelly (my inner child) and me thinking about was; are there any disorganized spiders? As I watched this busy spider making this masterpiece in silk, as if she’d (I’m going to assume it was a girl) thoroughly studied some manual on some website about web making, I thought back to see if I could ever remember seeing a rectangular web filled with heart-shaped lines or triangular webs with crosses all around or webs in rainbow colors shaped like wedding cakes? I couldn’t, and a God breeze swept over me with the realization that within that busy little girl was genius! I also had to conclude there are no disorganized spiders. (I don’t think they have as much fun as we do.)

First, this spider had to start with a plan passed down from generation to generation. If she didn’t, her web would be different and every “fall” spider web is constructed from the same blue print. I Googled, “How do spiders make a web?” (Sometimes I’m embarrassed to ask Google questions, thinking it might be a stupid question. I’m always happy when I see that others before me have wondered the same “stupid” things. I’ll tell you in a minute what I found out.) Second, she had to follow that plan. What a fresh idea! Start with a tried and true plan and follow it! Buy a calendar and a watch and use them. Mind the flight plan if you follow Flylady.

The spider (and you) have choices to make

Google told me the spider does have conscious choices to make when she’s making her web. She first has to pick a place to start and release a sticky thread that is blown away with the wind. If the breeze carries the silken line to a spot where the first bridge is formed, she cautiously crosses along the thin line reinforcing it with a second line. She reinforces the line until it is strong enough. (That tells me she has to think about it and do some deciding.) The rest of the work all goes according to the master plan and when she’s all done, she waits in the middle for her groceries to be delivered.

After a night of grocery deliveries, the web becomes worn out. The spider removes the silk in the morning by eating it, only leaving the first bridge line. After a daytime rest she constructs a new web in the evening. If the deliveries were low and the web was not heavily damaged it may stay during the day and be reused after minor repairing.

I love that each of our homes is different and we have the freedom to decide on the plan for being organized that fits us the best, but then we must stick to the plan. Just think if the spider didn’t stick to her plan or if she sat and played video games when she should be resting she’d be too pooped to make a new web in the evening and there’d be no place to put the groceries.

Just like a spider our work is never done, but if we pick a plan that we know works and we follow it and stick to it we get to enjoy life way more than if we don’t. Now I have to go get groceries.