The Ladybird Spider
I am still working on updating my website, and specifically, writing a post that will be linked to the homepage. That post will, hopefully, be a landing page for people to understand more clearly why I write. In the meantime, I do not want to stop writing when God brings something to my mind. And personally, I believe you are in for quite the treat.
Recently, my family and I finally explored Mount Etna by hiking the Schiena dell’Asino trail. We have incredible views almost daily of the volcano from afar, but we had yet travelled up the mountain for a family hike. Little did I know, during this hike God would put something on my mind to share with you. And it comes in the form of a spider.
While making our descent, my two year old son spotted a beautiful spider. This red and black creature was a mystery to us at first. We took some pictures and a video and continued right along. Yet, only a few steps further we found another. And then another. In all, we only saw four or five. But something about this spider left an impression on me. I’m not much of a bug guy. Growing up they freaked me out. Okay, let’s be real. They still do. But for some reason I wanted to figure out what this spider was. Turns out, we came across what is known as the Ladybird Spider. Apparently, these spiders were on the brink of extinction, but some recent efforts in the UK and elsewhere have begun to reverse this trend. You can look all that up yourself if you are curious. The thing that really stuck out to me the most was this specific fact regarding the female ladybird. This is according to a species information guide written by Back From The Brink:
“After mating, the female Ladybird Spider lays up to 80 eggs. She cares for the eggs by wrapping them in silk, her egg-cocoon measures up to 9mm long. She seals herself and the eggs into a nursery chamber in her burrow. The female spider attaches the egg-cocoon to the underneath of the web canopy moving it down into the burrow if disturbed.
After approximately one month, the spiderlings hatch, they spend most of their early life on or near their mother in the burrow. The mother spider fills the inside of the burrow with silk threads that the young spiderlings use to move around. The female Ladybird Spider then makes the ultimate sacrifice to give her spiderlings the best chance in life: she liquefies her internal organs and regurgitates it to feed her spiderlings the nutritious fluid from her mouth.
The mother dies after approximately two weeks following the emergence of the spiderlings.”
If I’m not mistaken, the same can be said of the male. He dies shortly after mating with the female. Now, this is not a travel blog, spider blog, or any blog related to bugs or animals, so we must make a turn here. What does this have to do with holiness?
The future of the Ladybird Spider species is dependent on self-sacrifice. Yes, there are things outside of its control that could lead to its extinction. But if the Ladybird Spider wants to leave a legacy behind, it must be willing to place its own life on the line in order to do so. The male must choose to lay down his life so that the female has an opportunity to conceive and bring little spiderlings into the world. The female spider then must offer its life as a sacrifice just so the young spiderlings even have an opportunity to live.
In the Ladybird Spider, we see a beautiful illustration of the very thing Jesus did for all of mankind. Don’t you just love how God puts his redemptive plan into the fabric of creation? This is just the Ladybird Spider. Think of the countless examples we come across on a daily basis. It reminds me of Romans 1:20 when Paul says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
I don’t just see a great illustration here. I see an example for us to follow. I personally love the term “follower of Jesus” because it reminds me of my responsibility as a Christian. I am not a Christian in the mind. I am a Christian in my mind, body, and soul. Therefore, I must choose to follow Jesus in all of His ways. Jesus modeled for us the way of suffering. He modeled the ultimate sacrifice. Yes, so that we might have salvation in Him. Yes, so that our sins could be washed by His blood. Yes, so that we could be in relationship with God now and forevermore. But also as an example for us to follow.
What the Ladybird Spider shows us is the necessity of sacrifice. For the Ladybird Spider, sacrifice isn’t really an option. It is a necessity. Without sacrifice, the Ladybird Spider species cannot live on. Without sacrifice, there really is no life. And I believe it is the same for us.
When you choose to follow Jesus, you choose to take the path of suffering. A lot probably needs to be said here. Because I know that some people might jump at this comment and fight against it. But it is true. I see this clearly as a husband and father. Paul says in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” I see it also as a father. My wife and I had to sacrifice a lot to bring children into the world. We must continue to sacrifice personal desires to raise them. This is what God has called us to.
You may not be a husband, wife, father, or mother, but if you are following Jesus, I hope you have, or will some day have, spiritual children; people you are helping grow in the likeness of Christ. When you do, this idea of self-sacrifice may make much more sense than it already does.
One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
May we all, like Jesus (and the Ladybird Spider) offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. It just begs the question once again.
Are you willing?
