Several years ago, there was a comedy show called “Kids say the Darndest Things”, and one of my grandsons is no exception when it comes to saying the unexpected. One Sunday, I took him to Primary, the children’s program at my church. One of the things children are asked to do is to give a two-minute talk on a gospel related subject. This particular day, four-year-old Tristan and I were a bit late, so we sat in the back row. It was discovered that none of the children who had been assigned talks were in attendance and the leader asked if anyone would like to do so. Tristan immediately jumped up and said he would, and off he went down the aisle to the podium without a care in the world. He started speaking about spiders, all sorts of spiders, all sorts of facts about spiders. For about five minutes he expounded on spiders. Finally, the children’s leader was able to guide him to a close and back he came to me, happy as a spider with a yummy fly for dinner in his web, you might say.
Tristan and I had other spider adventures. When he was about 10 years old, I was employed as a Library Clerk in the Quincy Branch of the North Central Regional Library District, and had the opportunity to develop a “Spiders and Spinning” story time for the Summer Reading Program. We traveled to several small libraries in rural farming and mountain communities in Washington State. Tristan would help me set up my spinning wheel and my spider display, assist with my spider puppet while I would read books about Native American tales of Spiderwoman/Spider Grandmother, Eric Carle’s classic The Very Busy Spider, and other spider stories. I would demonstrate how humans spin and explain how spiders spin and told them that the people of China had once spun and wove a spider silk dress which was later presented to a Queen of England. Then we would both help the children with a couple of craft projects we would bring along.
Tristan grew up and a few months ago he became a father for the first time, who also happens to be my first great grandchild. While playing with that little baby and remembering Tristan’s childhood, these memories came to mind. As I pondered them I realized that, as amusing to me as these tales might be, the real story isn’t about spiders at all. What Tristan’s actions as an innocent four-year-old child and a storyteller helper had actually taught was the principle of seeing a need and stepping forth to fill it, without complaint, without dragging one’s feet, just jumping in and doing what needed to be done, come what may. What a natural lesson in how easy it really is to be a good human and how to follow the path of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in our everyday lives.
Many people are concerned about the way they see the world is headed these days. Not a new concept. Each generation has feared for the upcoming generation, but this time around something has fundamentally changed the way we approach and look at the world in our modern culture. In our efforts to accomplish more by becoming more connected electronically, we are losing the ability to connect personally with the people around us. We are losing faith in ourselves and in humanity because we are not connecting with real people in real time. We are losing the ability to be good humans. We are becoming fear-full instead of faith-full. We no longer see what is happening around us so easily as in the past.
Sometimes the principle of unexpected consequences is really the principle of unexpected lessons learned. “Out of the mouth of babes”, Jesus said in Matthew 21:16. In our troubled world today, with its civil disturbances, its wars and rumors of wars, its anger and hate and intolerance, we would do well to remember these words from the prophet Isaiah: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6). I hope we can learn to disconnect from our electronic devices and to reconnect with the people around us by giving a quick smile, a helping hand, and by creating opportunities for our children (and grandchildren) to learn the art of serving others, even if it involves something unexpected, like spiders.
May we find the same courage to go forth when the need arises and be the voice of confidence and reason in our daily lives and the lives of those around us, as set by the examples of both Jesus Christ and the young Tristan.
Originally published in the Frontiersman newspaper.
Karen Murray is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints experiencing life as a wife, mother, family historian, author, and political activist.
Liberty Principia 