Itsy Bitsy Spider (spider mafia)

Running in to the room, my granddaughter breathlessly informed me "there is a spider in my room" Oh wait...that's right. She said a BIG spider in her room. This probably makes it on the list of things I least like to hear. Hmmm...yes I was stalling as I wondered just how big BIG might be. Is it just big to her being a little girl? I also wondered just where in the room of toys, furniture and clothing it may have gone in the moments since she left the room and I was mid ponder.

Growing up I had a horrible fear of spiders. There was no natural experience that made it happen. It just seemed to always be part of me. For as long as possible I had my mom, dad or brothers, not sisters, kill any spider that was in my living space.  I had this sneaking suspicion that if I killed a spider, one of its spider family members would come back to get me. Kind of like a spider mafia. I didn't think through, apparently, that if a spider brother, uncle or close associate would come take revenge on me, they would also seek revenge on the one who killed the original spider for me. Or was I too scared to care? Frankly my childhood experience with spiders in my section of Midwest Indiana, was primarily with the smaller version, with one banana spider thrown in (in a silverware drawer!!!) mixed with a great number of Daddy-Long-Legs. I used to both shudder and be amazed as my grandpa worked in his garden, fearlessly allowing Daddy-Long-Legs crawl all over his back and hat.

Then I entered my early twenties. Some huge changes took place. First I became a "new creature in Christ" putting off my old life and exchanging it for the new life Jesus bought for me on the cross. This meant I began taking seriously how to live like a new person according to what the Bible says. It plainly says "God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind." I think encountering a lion or a bear or even a mean dog would cause fear to rise up in me but they just were not part of my everyday life. Spiders however, were a becoming a frequent part making not fearing very challenging living in Florida for a while then near woodsy areas in the Midwest.

The Bible talks about renewing our minds and thinking on things that are true and worthy. Scripture says "Behold I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions (where is that other s word- spiders!?!) and over all the power of the enemy (Oh! It fits in the little word all) and nothing shall by any means hurt you" Well I can tell you when this finally began to bear real fruit. It was when I had my kids. Have you ever noticed how we can lay aside our terror even if we might still feel it, in fierce protection of our children?

I did not want my kids growing up afraid. So I adopted a pray and spray tactic. I would pray in the Spirit quietly but with conviction then tell the spider it has all of outdoors to live in and did not belong in my home. Then I would spray for all I was worth because much as I hate the pesticide I even more hate the feel of the squishy crunch under the shoe, sandal or magazine I may be using to smash it good and dead. Here in the Midwest we have wolf spiders and I lie not when I tell you in our early years of taking back the land (or rather our house) from the spiders, some were the size of small rodents. I am not even sure they were not some kind of a mutant mouse with long legs (kidding but they were way too big and bigger than my childhood memories absolutely)

They were known to make grown men cringe (NOT my husband who is frequently called upon as my resident spider warrior).  Alas it was me, grandma and not grandpa or daddy on hand for the spider this day.
"Where was it?" 
"It went under my bed"
No, no, no, no not under the bed of all places! Where the floor is nearly carpeted with children's books read and dropped at nap time! The bed she has to take a nap in a few short minutes from now...
"Ok, really, did you see it go under there?"
"YES it's a big spider"
"Well remember we are bigger than the spider. It is probably afraid of us and hiding."
She repeats this thought out loud as I gingerly pull one overlapping book at at time out from under the bed. I finally get to a point where I am not willing to extend my arm any further under the bed which means I must move the bed to continue my reluctant spider hunt.
"There it is! There it is!"
I don't have my glasses on.
"Where?!?"
"In the corner! It's scared of us right Grandma? We are bigger than the spider."
Ah yes. There it is and it is a moderately big one in fact. Ugly. And with a quick jab of a flip flop surprisingly dead! Well I gave it a few more slaps of the sandal for good measure and with a suppressed shudder bundled it up in toilet paper to flush it away. Of course she needed to see it I suppose to be sure it was dead and gone.
"Oooh that's icky."
And gone.