Do you think this spider knows how cool its web is? Do you think it knows I've made a point of walking past its home every day after I drop Samuel off for kindergarten, to spy the strands? Do you think it knows I'm impressed at this silken engineering feat stretching five feet across a culvert where a creek goes beneath the street?
Will my adulation help the spider catch more flies?
Today, like many others, the shower was my think tank. I was thinking about a book I recently finished reading, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I really liked it. It was thought-provoking. The author set specific goals in monthly categories to see if happiness is something she could generate and control. I think she lives a pretty charmed life already, which she too acknowledges, but she made a very convincing case that happy circumstances do not make one happy. It's a conscious choice.
So back to the shower and a glimpse at my watery stream of consciousness:
The author talked about her need for validation. Gold stars. Me, too. (Hey, publishing a best-seller is a pretty good way to get gold stars. I wonder if the author sees the irony.) Why do we need gold stars? Why do I need that? Why do we need outside validation to think we're doing OK? Or is that just me? Why? I like to do creative things. I liked doing the art thing at the school. I'll never be an artist, but it was fun! Does it need to be up to someone else's standard? Can't it just be for me? Do I stop myself because I'm worried it won't be good enough? Is that why I don't play piano so much? Why does that matter?
And then this, somewhere between shampoo and conditioner:
Wasn't God pleased with the creation?
Indeed, as soon as I dried off and got dressed, I looked it up. There it was in Genesis 1:31:
And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
No Like button, no positive reviews, no comments. Granted the scriptures were recorded, somewhere along the line, by a man (gosh I need to brush up on my Old Testament knowledge), but the idea is clear: No one needed to tell God what was good.
What a lesson for me today. I need to free myself to do things for my own satisfaction and nourishment, without worrying what anyone else thinks (or doesn't).
Thank you, Spider. Thank you, Ye who made us both.
P.S. I gave myself a 30-minute time limit on this, and back to housework I go!
