merrymuhsman

I nearly lost my life today.

I was weeding and I nearly came in contact with this monstrosity.

The other night my husband and neighbor were talking spiders, of all things. They discussed the frightening garden spider, how they’re good because they eat bad spiders (horrifying), blah, blah, blah. I won’t bore you with all the details, because it didn’t change my mind about that spider.

Besides, I haven’t seen a garden spider in years here on the farm.

Until today.

I was weeding the landscaping around the house, my head down, focused on the crab grass that seems to be the only thing that grows in this humid heat.

I looked over at my autumn sedum and noticed a wolf spider web mere inches from my arm. I backed away, looking up to see if I could see where the wolf spider lingered. I came nearly face-to-face with a horrifying garden spider.

I screamed. I backed up, I thanked the good Lord above that I didn’t move about six inches to the right, because my head would have ensnarled that monster IN MY HAIR.

A garden spider. How in the world could I miss that? How could I not feel how close that thing was to MY FACE!

I stared at it. The long, knife-shaped legs made my widen. The way it’s diamond-shaped body made my blood run cold. The way it waltzed down the web like it was dancing made my heart stop.

What in the world was I thinking, and then it dawned me. I was focused on what was right in front of me, and I forgot to look up.

Look up.

Be aware of your surroundings.

Keep your head on a swivel.

I would be terrible in the zombie apocalypse.

There’s something deeper here than my fear plummeting like a black rock into my soul. Literally, if all I’m focused only what is right in front of me, I will forget to look around at all the blessings surrounding me (or dangerous spiders, depending on your perspective).

How we can get so focused on our troubles, our financial situation, the state of our favorite football program (Nebraska, I’m embarrassed, even though we won yesterday), that we forget to look up at the sky. The beautiful blue sky with wispy clouds. A star that literally fuels our entire planet. A moon that commands the ebb and flow of our ocean. The birds who soar in the air as if they command the wind.

When I was kid growing up on the farm, I grew up with no internet, no friends nearby and no cable tv. I had only my imagination. There were many days, I’d pause in my adventures and lay in the grass and wonder about the clouds. Look for shapes. Dream of what my life might be like someday.

Why did I stop looking at clouds? I grew up and my focus narrowed.

Every night my cat Garfield waits for me to pick him up and then carry him to the barn. As soon as I pick him up, he always turns his face to the sky and looks up. It doesn’t matter if it’s cloudy or sunny, he looks up and I swear he smiles. He gets it.

I get it now.

I texted my son a photo of my horrifying near-death experience. He laughed and said leave it alone.

I think someone is out of the will.