A Spider's Web

Original Mixed Media, 20" x 24"

Isaiah 59:4-8

“To the hard of hearing you shout, and to the almost blind you draw large startling figures.”

--Flannery O’Connor

Robert Fulghum once said “sticks and stones may break your bones but words can break your heart.” Madeleine L’Engle said in her forward to “A Grief Observed” (by C. S. Lewis) that she writes her most inner thoughts in her journal, so in many cases they won’t be taken out on her friends and loved ones. There I believe is the key. As we see in the Psalms, God calls us to bring all our immature, judging, diabolical, conceited, narcissistic, raging thoughts to Him first. He wants to reason with us even in our most ugly state, comfort and challenge us in our most unreasonable state, and remind us who we are in our most forgetful state.

This image depicts a large spider spinning a web over a city. It represents those who have spoken falsehood, and carefully woven wicked ideas in the hearts of others. I’ve seen in myself and others how this can destroy a community if it is not brought before God and then others, quickly, concisely, and humbly. I’ve also seen deep restoration when these lies and misunderstandings are brought from the darkness to the light, and this is when we see God work most clearly.