Anyone who knows me, knows how much I hate spiders. I’ve walked into webs face first, had them crawl across my face, bite me, and in general, scare the b-jeeezus out of me. I am so afraid of them that I usually can’t kill them and instead, enlist the help of my current pet to get rid of them. Then they sit there for a day or 2 just so I can make sure they’re dead before I get rid of the body. Then I get the heebee jeebees from having had to pick the dead thing up, even if it is in a ton of toilet paper, so I can flush him out of my life.

Here’s the thing….a little spider has built a web on my balcony between the railing and the upper deck. I broke the web once but he came back. Now I’ve been watching him. He comes out every day, usually in the early afternoon as long as it isn’t raining and he’ll repair the middle of the web, sometimes moving it higher, sometimes lower. Then he sits there and waits for his meal to show up. When he’s eaten he goes away until the next day. He’s slowly growing bigger but his routine hasn’t changed.

He’s focused. He’s persistent. He’s patient. All qualities that lead to his success. I need to learn these qualities from the spider.