Aww, the little guy is back again. I suspect looking for food and a drink. 🤗❤️ Or maybe he just wanted to visit!
I can’t help but hear the scripture:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26
Back story: First of all, I am terrified of spiders but fascinated by them, especially the little jumpers and this little guy has stolen my heart.
About 6 weeks ago, my granddaughter and I spent 2 weeks watching him crawl across the ceiling from one end of the house to the other. Then one morning I found him curled up as spiders do when dead or dying on the floor in the front room. I gently scooped him into my bug box, sat it on the counter, gave him some water and food and he surprisingly came around. I took him to a window seal, tipped the box on its side so he could exit as he pleased. At some point he did. I continued to watch periodically to see if he would reappear on the ceiling but he never did. A couple weeks passed, he reappeared on the counter in the same spot that I had fed him. I gave him a piece of meat which he dragged to where he felt safe, ate and drank, then disappeared. I was a little saddened by his exit but delighted he came calling.
A couple days later, I had some left over soup on the stove from dinner that day and needed to store it so I got a bowl out, put the soup in it, reached for the lid which was in the sink drainer, put it on the bowl and sat the bowl in the refrigerator. This was around 5pm. The next day, I had errands to run and was looking forward to lunch time for some leftover soup. Yum! When I got home, I pulled the bowl from the fridge, opened it and screamed in horror! My little spider was sitting on top of the soup, listless and immobile. I immediately scooped him out and lay him on a paper towel to soak up any fluids that might have been drowning him. I tried to nudge him to see if there was life in him and his little rear end raised for the sky. I thought, Ok he is either going to be ok or he is grasping for whatever life he has left in him and is on his death bed. Prayers began as soon as I found him.
Now I know that spiders can go into a sort of hibernation or suspended animation so to speak in the cold but upon research found that they usually require a little notice to work up the chemicals needed for it. Anyway, within the hour he became very pliable and then seemed to eventually stiffen up like rigor mortis had set in. I was heartbroken and  made a tent out of a heated paper towel to set over him in hopes that my perception was wrong and it would heat him up to bring him back around. I didn’t feel hopeful at this stage however and just prayed over him again and asked the Lord if it was His will, to please let the little guy be ok. I then decided it was solely up to God as I had done all that I could in my power including praying for him.Â
It had now been about an hour since I found my little friend lying listless in the soup and we decided to go to the grocery store which kept us out about 2 hours. I immediately went to the counter as soon as we walked into the house upon our return to check on my little friend and to my elated surprise and praises to God, he was wandering around on the counter. I grabbed my bug box, put him in it with a smidge of food and water and sat him by the window in the dining room so that he would be out of range of danger. It’s now been about 2-3 weeks and I haven’t seen him since and wondered how he was doing until this morning. He showed up on the “same” counter top and hung out with me for about 2 – 3 hours just exploring and strolling around the counter top with very little fear of me.  I’m surprised at the ability of a spider, of all things, to retain memory of location and help. God’s creation never ceases to amaze me!
Always in my mind, especially when it comes to the critters that most think are too lowly to acknowledge as a beloved creature of God: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,”…. “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
Matthew 25:35,40