“The means to gain happiness is to throw out from oneself, like a spider in all directions, an adhesive web of love, and to catch in it all that comes”
Leo Tolstoy
First I need to preface this little post of mine— have I ever told you how much I hate spiders?! I can deal with snakes, roaches, all sorts of creepy crawlies, but just not spiders. I have to hand it to them however, the whole web thing is pretty amazing–with some of the species doing a better job than others on those webs—kind of like people—some keep a beautiful house, while others live in a tangled hodge podge mess…..but all those legs, and all those eyes…this obsessive fear probably harkens back to my childhood and watching those blasted B movies that came on Dialing for Dollars…remember that form the 60s?
Each Friday they’d show some wretched movie, The Fly (the original), The Creature from the Black Lagoon,—then there was that giant spider that ate people…..yep, that did it…..seeing people wrapped up in giant web cocoons and a humongous spider ready to literally suck the life out of them…shudders and the creeps as we speak!!
But before I digress myself into a panic attack, let me continue where I was going with all of this….
Yesterday, I was checking out my hydrangeas–the giant blue puff ball blooms are bursting in full fashion, in a myriad of tints and shades of blues– I looked between two bushes and saw a spider gently suspended between the bushes, sitting smack dab in the middle of his very symmetrical web. Across from this spider, on another bush, another spider hung magically suspended–it’s just that his web was not the beautifully symmetrical art form as the first, but more of that tangled mess I spoke of earlier. He was still obviously happy doing his spider thing, just not in the same pretty fashion as his neighbor.
I don’t know what prompts one spider to be more “artistic” than the next, just like us I suppose–who knows why some of us are talented and some of us, not so much (have I ever told you how I wish I could sing? Really sing—the Barbara Streisand kind of belt out powerfully beautiful words matching equally powerful music…..but alas–I am like the jumbled webbed spider on that one……)
However, I do “love” Leo Tolstoy’s analogy on Love and of a spider’s web. We will do well to remember that it is best to cast our nets far and wide in search of finding all sorts of love all around us. If we keep that net close, afraid of casting it out there, afraid that it may come up empty, then we may never know what, or whom, it is we miss—this goes back to yesterday’s post on living boldly and not being afraid—if we go around afraid all of the time—we miss more blessings than if we just live each day to the fullest—as this very life of ours is indeed full of risk—but risk truly worth taking—trust me—I’ve been around a bit…..
I am happier when I throw out my net, casting it far and away from myself, away from my own worries and woes– reaching out to those around me—as there are so many blessings to be had out and away from myself. If I play everything close to my chest, worried and afraid, what do I profit? Nothing but my own worry and woe.
On this new Monday to another blessed new week—be not afraid of casting your net far and wide—be willing to take a risk and a chance–seek the love that is all around you…it’s just that sometimes it’s a little further out of your reach, take the chance–reach out there–really reach far…who knows what you may come back with…….
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