ROOM FOR ONE MORE?

2 years ago, I remember thinking, AHA! I'd found two mallards hidden in the grass, and began sketching them. But their half dozen ducklings saw and wanted to be drawn too so surprised me by coming out of hiding. Adult caretaker mallards also came, so before I knew it, I needed to draw 10 birds. Dragonflies flying by wanted to know what was going on and perched on the reeds--2 more critters needed to be drawn. 2 basking turtles seemed to comment I had a big job to do. I found myself saying, NO MORE VACANCY!

When I went to the same place today, at first, I saw two turtles, a carp, and a white butterfly. I decided to do the sketch, but as I was finishing, a tiny spider crawled up the boulder near me, so I drew him on the boulder near the carp...then I saw a tiny hatchling on a rock behind that boulder. so added him. After I drew the outlines of the background, another turtle climbed up on that center boulder. I managed to squeeze him in behind the first turtle.

Whew. As I was about to go home, 2 more dragonflies came! Maybe tomorrow, I told them. On the way home, I saw a mallard at Step Creek. (He was one of the first 2 in the grass.) He probably sat there and chuckled at what he saw, thinking, it's happening again.

Aren't you glad God always has room for one more?

Just a Water Spider

At first, I said to myself I couldn't get anywhere near drawing anything like what the camera showed, so why even try.

I'd been up on Main Bridge, seen movement in the water below, and with the thought, "could it be?" pulled out the camera and snapped the shutter. I was almost ecstatic later when I realized what I got.

A water spider had surfaced and successfully captured its prey while a swimmer that had barely escaped--the parent of the one that got captured?--looked on from under a neighboring lily pad!

But then I told myself I could look at my drawings and see how poor they were in comparison to God's creative work of art in wildlife's natural various manifestations. Maybe the longer I try, the more I'll sense how great God is to be able to make so much so easily, perfectly

So...I decided to try sketching the photograph I'd taken earlier, and this is what I got. It may not be as accurate as the camera depiction, but with any artist's picture, it communicates just what the artist intends to convey!

I know. Some readers may be thinking, "spiders...couldn't you think of something better to draw?!" Hey; did YOU choose to be born a human?

I'm just so so so (I get carried away sometimes) grateful God created me to be a human, aren't you? And one day I will get to take on the very nature of the Godhead--wow!

IN KING'S PALACES

Some of you may've wondered why I got so excited seeing the garden spider in the "8 Legs" post. Maybe this will show you why. I remember, in June 2021, feeling something akin to awe in watching these outdoor creatures.

"The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces." (Prov. 30:28)

Sun-glinting raindrop-studded spiderwebs have often looked to me like diamond carpets--wouldn't only royalty walk there, I have often mused. Growing in the pond is the pink lotus, or as it is also called, the "Morning Dew". Although raved for its beauty, this flower has to wait for its few drops of moisture; unlike the despised garden spider overhead who has so much, she'll slip if she goes out for a walk!

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But make no mistake about it, I admire them from a comfortable distance; I am not one of those people who doesn't mind letting spiders crawl all over their arms or faces. I began thinking positively about these creatures after 50 years of automatic-reflex-conditioned jumping when I saw them move. Physiological responses don't change overnight.

So I can only apologize, but I honestly cannot stand to touch or be touched by spiders. They know how I feel. After all, their automatic response is to hide from humans--even the ones they trust and have no reason to run from.

Come to think of it, don't we do a lot of things without really thinking about it--but that's what we've always done? I know. I've strayed quite a bit from what I intended on writing about. But I always do that. 

8TH LEG?

I scanned the area between the bushes rather anxiously, wondering if she would still be there. I remember the thrill I'd felt when I saw the garden spider a few days earlier. It was well into December already--surely, all the summer insects would be gone by now. But then I saw her!

As if to inform me the spiders are not insects, and yes, they can stay out much longer than the others; this beautifully-colored arachnid hoisted herself onto her marvelous miracle of home-and-hunting-ground, seeming to welcome me back to the park.

I came back today armed with all the colors I needed to draw the spider.

As the mallards came towards the edge of the pond, I teased them, "I've sketched you two days in a row," and the carp came swimming too--"and you were in the drawing on the second day," I added; "it's the spider's turn today, okay?"

Spiders have eight appendages, but they usually hold the back four in two pairs and the front four in two pairs, so sometimes it looks like they have only four feet. But after I was done with my drawing, the spider brought her legs back apart (was that a spider's way of smiling?), and I smiled back.

"I know; you really have more legs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Wait. You're supposed to have 8. What happened to your 8th leg?"

"A secret." she seemed to say. Well, she didn't say. Spiders don't talk.

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That 「たといそうでなくても」book from my stepmother's bookshelf--I've read page 205 now. Ahn won over the prison superintendent to Christ then herself went to the prison in Pyong Yan, where many Christians were being incarcerated and tortured for their faith. What secret did God have for her there?