God is Always There for Us
Author: Hazel Fitz-Gibbon (Surrey, England)
A biologist once told me that it was a good thing that spiders were not sociable creatures, like bees, as their huge number would soon enable them to take over the world! Science also informs us that the fine thread spun by a spider is actually stronger than steel drawn out to the same thickness.
Last winter, my husband and I went for a morning walk across a nearby field. There had been a hard frost during the night and to our amazement and delight the wild, rough tussocks of grass were covered in wonderful spiders’ webs. The whole field looked as though it had delicate lace spread over it. By the time we returned that way, however, the sun had melted the frost and the webs had disappeared, though they were still there; we just could not see them.
This made me reflect that sometimes the pattern of our life is upset. Something difficult or distressing happens and we can’t recognise the hand of our heavenly Father in our circumstances. At another time, a happy series of ‘coincidences’ seems to confirm that God is at work. I believe that whether it is clear to us or not, God is always there for us, making sense of our lives, creating a beautiful pattern which we will see one day, if not now. I think we can pray for the grace to glimpse what he is doing and for the faith to trust him when we cannot see the pattern.
Prayer: Lord, help us to trust that you are always at work in our lives, especially when times are tough. Amen
