I don't know what happened to the record of this incident; it happened a few weeks ago, but I don't have it on file anywhere! Here 'tis in a nutshell:
I'd sent the kids upstairs to bed, and a few moments later, they came charging back downstairs with, "There's a huge spider in the room, and we can't go to sleep with it there!" I grabbed some tissue, a flyswatter, and headed up the stairs, thinking I'd take care of the bothersome bug, tell the children to go to bed for goodness' sake. But when I entered the room and took a look at the ceiling, my face contorted into this eerie smile. I'm used to the long-legged type, but this spider was the fat-bodied, tarantula type, bigger than any I've seen live before.
It seemed to be taking this threatening pose, as if he would touch me if I got any closer. I sez, if I swing and miss, it would no doubt scurry off to its hiding place, and then nobody would ever get to sleep knowing it could come out of hiding in the middle of the night...but worse, if I hit it-- it was a little lower than the ceiling, so I'd have to get up on a stool and swing up at it--its carcase might come land on my head or face--ooh! uck! Shivers!...and the thought made me unable to move. So I told the kids they could sleep on the futons in the room nextdoor, and I camped out on the beds with a good book to read the hour and a half before Hubby came home; I planned on having him take care of the creepy crawler! I wanted to keep an eye on it tho', ' cuz I didn't want it scurrying out of sight or NO ONE--including me--would go to sleep in that room at night!
When Huggy came home, He breathed a "It's HUGE!" but took two swipes and took care of the creature on the wall. Relief...I think. Emily wondered how that spider got inside the house to begin with, and I was left wondering if there were spider eggs nesting somewhere. Know any good spider egg hunters?
Like sin, I sez. At first, we think, no big deal. I can take care of it. But before we realize it, it's become a fat, paralyzing problem against which we have no power or peace of mind. But we turn it over to God and He takes care of it with 2 strokes: confession--wham--and repentance--wham! (This came to mind just awhile ago: actually, the only real problem that remains is our keeping those spider eggs--harboring seeds of temptation and future sin--in our hearts somewhere!)
