Sunlight on Spiderwebs

Sunlight on Spiderwebs

Those webs
full
of mighty effort
and industry
are
so fragile
and
thus
so full of sadness
and melancholy.
But
in the sunlight
they shimmer
with a beauty
their maker
cannot
behold.


Generally, I find life very, very sad. Interestingly, I'm a joyful person. But this is due to the fortunes of heredity. I am dispositionally happy. Consequently, my worldview has difficulty making a dent in my baseline mood. My joy is a genetic joy. So I guess I'm lucky in that way.

This weekend I found myself at a contemplative retreat hosted by ACU. During the retreat we were invited to spend many hours in solitude, silence, and prayer. I wandered off and during the first three hours generally stared at a spiderweb as the sun began to set. And, as is typical of me, when my mind quieted the recurrent melancholy came over me. All the strivings of life, epitomized by that spider, seemed so futile and fragile. I felt like that spider.

But then the sun, moving lower, struck the spiderweb unleashing a dazzling display of shimmering color. And as I reflected on my amazement, I wondered if this life, seen from a different perspective, has a beauty inaccessible to me currently.

That, anyway, is the hope I have...