Balance: Volume Two

By Ron Gallo

Balance is a collection of (3) volumes of gems that Author Ron Gallo has dug up to provide spiritual wisdom, knowledge and understanding of God’s word, to balance oneself. They will catch any readers eye and keep their attention for many reasons, one of which the book in three volumes is all written differently from other books,, with a different format and flavor that gets more tastier with each turn of the page.

Volume: Two: The Spider, the Ant and More Wisdom
Did you know that you can learn how the Lord wants you to live in the Christian life by looking at a spider and an ant? Yes, God points out the smallest and most hideous of creatures and advises man to look at these to learn about wisdom, he never mentions look at man. Do you see where Gods priorities are? What does a leaf, a web, or a tiny piece of paper has that relates to my walk with God? Find out, along with more gems from the treasury vault that inspire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664111899

Book preview

CONTENTS

Chapter 7 Learning from Nature: The Spider Part One

Chapter 8 Learning from Nature: The Spider Part Two

Chapter 9 Learning from Nature: The Spider Part Three

Chapter 10 Savannah’s Blogs for Your Inspiration and Encouragement

Chapter 11 God Is in Control

Chapter 12 Why Is a Crooked Letter?

Chapter 13 The Dash

CHAPTER 7

Learning from Nature: The Spider

Part One

This is why God said to look at the spider and ant in Proverbs 30, and he never said to look at man. See where God’s priorities are? He picks the smallest creature, the ant, and the most hideous creature, the spider, and tells man to look at it. Isn’t God amazing? He always does the opposite of how man thinks. He uses the weak, the misfits, the dejected, the children, the people with disabilities, the loudmouths, the killers, the humble—but not the proud. PACS, see below.

P—PERSEVERANCE: Knock over the web and the spider rebuilds it. Hit her with a brook, and she comes right back at you on silk. How about when your web gets knocked over in life, do you come right back or retreat?

A—ADJUSTMENT: When the web is tampered with, the spider moves very little, then sits still (Psalm 46:10), and then moves back and starts rebuilding the web. It doesn’t get stressed out/have anxiety. Do you make adjustments when things go wrong?

C—CONTENT: The spider will accept any bug that comes on its web—the beetle and the butterflies all taste the same. A spider doesn’t make a web in one place and tell God the other areas of the field is better, it has better wind for the bugs to fly into, it has better light to attract them, etc. Nowhere ever it sets up its web, it depends that God will supply. Are you being contented, or are you looking over your shoulder at what others have and you don’t? God cannot give you favor (blessings) if he cannot trust you with what you have presently. A spider doesn’t make a web then run away. The insect flies into the web not because the spider is there, so why doesn’t the spider make it then hide? It sits right in the middle, and ever notice birds eat bugs, but they don’t attack a spider on a web? It’s called balance. It’s like how more aggressive turtles, like the soft-shelled and snapper, swim/eat with painted turtles, how the huge cow/bull lets the birds eat the insects (standing right alongside the cow) popping up from the grass after the cow pulls the grass in the field, or how the birds pick bugs off the cow’s head area without stopping on it, where if you or I walked up to it or put our hand at the snapper’s head, they would have a problem with us. It’s called balance in harmony, something man has yet to learn.

S—STEWARD: I feel this is the most important. The spider will use only those items around its web/short distance to aid it in its web construction/balance. They will use straws, cigarette butts, paper, pieces of anything, leaves, etc. They are a good steward or manager of the resources of what the Lord has given to them. Are you? Are you a good steward of what God has put around you, whether it’s things or people? Are you grateful, or are you looking at something you think is better? Trust me, it’s not. Be contented like the spider; be a good steward of what God has given you, whether it be positive or negative. God assigns not only the good but the bad to you. Look at the apostles and even Jesus, God the Father assigned them negatives while on earth, do you think you’re any different?

Patience

A spider is also patient. Touch/pluck her web, and they are mainly still; they don’t get anxiety. They’re basically still and patient. They are patient even building their web, so are we patient in our life? Doing everything in detail, are we? The Lord said in Psalm 46:10, Be still and know that I am God. Patience is a virtue.

44903.png

Thoughts for Today

A spider will normally use the tips of branches/leaves, not the inner part. This is for three reasons:

1. It provides a better shock absorber.

2. If the branches/leaves move, putting the thread on the inside creates greater risk the threads could break versus on the tips.

3. It holds the web tighter and straighter in place.

At times, a spider will place the threads on the inner part of the branch for support, but not normally.

A spider uses many branches (twigs/leaves) to build her web. She also uses the leaves below by picking them up and using them not only as a territorial marker, like an animal scent trail would do, but mainly to balance the web in place so it doesn’t break. I have seen several or a single leaf where she will use it at one point of her web. So instead of placing it on the ground where the wind could break it, the leaf acts as a shock absorber, and by it spinning, it holds the web in place. It acts like a wind vane, whether it’s vertical or horizontal; and the threads are attached to one or both ends of the leaf. It holds the thread/s and web in place. A spider will spin several types of threads from its spinneret depending on what it’s doing. If it’s attaching itself from one tree to another, it will make a supple or soft thread, so it blows freely in the wind and not a straight tight one that can break. The outer threads are thicker/stronger because that’s the foundation of the web, to hold it together. Then the threads get smaller, and if you notice the inner threads, especially closest and next to the spider, you cannot almost see them. It’s so the spider can move and camouflage itself better from the prey. Spiders get sensations, which they pick up on their web, when prey has fallen in. A spider that makes a web has poorer eyesight than one like a wolf spider, who feeds on the ground and doesn’t make one. Working without a web, God makes adjustments so the wolf spider can see better.

Does only your heart run your body? When the oxygen comes in, does it only go to your heart? Do you need a brain to survive, a liver, kidneys, etc.? Each organ is dependent on the other. That’s why you can stub your toe or get a muscle/backache and be in bed while the other parts of your body are working. We must understand God uses everybody and everything to fulfill his purpose. That’s why there are many parts that make up you, and why there are thousands of species of insects, fish, animals, birds, mammals, planets in the universe, etc. It’s not how you perceive or frame in your mind, it’s how God thinks, not about you. Many Christians didn’t like President Trump for how he speaks. What they don’t realize because of their ignorance is that his speech is his personality to be like the lion and clean up America and show a force in the world. God gave him that personality; it’s who he is and what we need. Saul, before he became Paul, was a terrorist back in his day, killing Christians; and you don’t think people say, How can God use him? I heard he did this and that. My friend, God uses everyone, even misfits. I’m glad I’m one.

I prayed for God to make what I wanted my way that’s why I prayed. But while I was working on my destination, God was working on me. It’s not about making God fit into our agenda, it’s us fitting into his. (T. D. Jakes)

Be what God wants you to be, not what people want or you wanting to be like another person. Be yourself, or else you will ruin the plan of God’s purpose. Each piece of a puzzle was cut out for a purpose to fit into the other pieces. If you try jamming that piece into another piece it doesn’t fit into, you may still get it to fit, but eventually it will pop out, because it wasn’t meant to fit. You were never meant to fit in with others who despise you. So when you look at the box and see the beautiful landscape puzzle and can’t figure out how the pieces go together, don’t get frustrated. Take your time, for each step of the process, you will see the picture of the purpose he has for your life. Patience builds trust and character. The promise will not come without the process. The Bible says in the book of Psalms, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. I feel better that God has ordered these steps and not me.

Young people today have more information, but less knowledge & Wisdom.

There is no way to order chaos. It’s the fundamental theory at the beginning and end of everything, the ultimate law of nature.

If man was so clean, why does he produce so much waste?

God never said to the child to have an understanding of anything past his world, but he said to be obedient. For that is the basic principle that will sustain him/her their entire life. For as you learn to be obedient as a child, that will sustain you throughout life. Watch the youths today who are disobedient, you can look at the family most of the time. You always need to look at the genesis of things, the history. If a child doesn’t understand what a parent is trying to do, how much more can we as adults understand what God our Father is doing. But children have faith and trust at that big person when you were growing up. Most people/adults lack these ingredients and have pride wanting to do it our way, and we will fall every time. A parent doesn’t want a child to fight their own battles or look at another child for guidance and direction. So why do we look at people for guidance/direction without first looking up at God’s direction? He will send the right people and circumstances in your life like a parent will for their children. Children have no pride, but we do, which is what stops us.

A man was driving down the road, and he was behind a truck carrying pigs when one of them fell out of the truck. He stopped and picked up the small pig and tried to catch up to the truck to return it to the driver when a police officer stopped him. He asked about the pig, and the man told him he was trying to catch up to the driver to return it but was unable to do so. The officer advised to just take the pig to the zoo. The next day, the same cop saw the man again with the pig and stopped him. The officer asked him why he didn’t take it to the zoo. The man said he did, and they had a great time, and today they were going to the beach. (Dr. J. Vernon McGee)

Proverbs 30 states, Look at the spider/these creatures; even though they are small, they are exceedingly wise.

Show me your friends, and I will show you who you are.

If you don’t learn from history, you’re condemned to repeat it.

In Psalm 37, it states that God will give you the desires of your heart. When I follow and do God’s will through obedience, I find the things I pray for or people I would like to meet or do/see things that interests me. God always provides it in his time and his way. He will bring you to the right people and right situations to achieve your blessings. God knows you have a desire first to breathe oxygen, have a heartbeat, etc., so don’t you think he will provide the other blessings? He wants us to trust him. You cannot see the wind, oxygen, your heartbeat, your brain, yet you trust it, so trust God. How much more should we trust him for everything else? He’s the same God. Do you worry if the sun was going to rise or set or the universe orbits? Trust him for all, else . . .

One good thing about a five-year-old is they are always just crazy straw, and some chocolate milk away from the best day ever.

Interesting spider facts: Another way a spider displays perseverance is they not only do they keep coming back and rebuilding the web after it’s knocked down/apart, but they also shoot out a silk thread and use the wind current to send it to a plant, tree branch, or structure to latch on to. It’s really neat to see the thread shoot out into the air. You can knock over their web with a broom, but you see them bounce/shoot right back, just hanging on a thread.

Men don’t faint, they pass out.

In this world, we have protons, electrons, neurons, morons.

Interesting spider facts: Spiders build their web and place leaves/twigs in precise places to balance the web. They look like DNA in our body, each leaf placed to spin so it keeps the web/silk thread in place. They will place their thread mainly at the tips of the branch so as not to have the thread break as the branch is moving in the wind. By placing it on the tip, it also gives it the flexibility to have the plant/branch/twig bend, giving it greater support in the wind and not break because it is bending/has a give to it. At times, they will place the thread around the plant/branch tip (wrap it around it) for better support. They will also have substrands (opened up) usually two-eight (average four) coming from that one thread going to the branch for better support. See how marvelous engineers they are! They will drop down on a single thread and just hang there seeing the direction of the wind, so they will know how and where to build it for that day. If the wind direction changes, they make accommodations and change with it to make a stronger web. You will notice holes in the web, or where they left out a portion of that web, and you wonder why they didn’t finish completing it. Like one I saw where, from about the picture, the handles of a clock where she left out from about one to four o’ clock; it was an empty space. This was because this was where most of the wind was coming from in that direction, and by leaving a space, it allowed the air current to pass through to support the web. Spiders put leaves on the web, and you will see a thread on each side of the leaf if it’s horizontal/vertical. This is so the leaf spins and acts like a wind vane and displaces the wind holding the thread in place. It acts like a shock absorber. If the leaf is hanging vertically on the leaf’s tip, this is used as a territory marker and wind vane, so the spider can see the wind direction for each moment during the day, as it can change. Spiders have silk glands that produce the silk, but they have several spinnerets. These are like openings where they can shoot out different-sized silk as they need it. They shoot out the thicker size for the base of their web, because of the support, and the finer threads for the inside to move around and to catch insects. They have oils on their legs so they can move around without getting caught in the silk themselves. Have you ever noticed they come out even more at night, after a rainstorm, and where there is light? Nature tells it that’s when the insects appear. Some spiders will start with just one silk strand coming down from the tree branch and use that as the base for their web creation that night. They only come out at night and close up shop when daylight appears, taking up the web, hiding in the tree during the daytime, then starting all over the next night.

All spiders have different characteristics about them, some make webs, different ones, some don’t (i.e., wolf spider), some make a fisherman’s cast net and go up to a prey and throw it over them like an angler throwing a net to catch bait fish—amazing. Others hide in fence pipes, holes in ground, under logs, etc.

Spiders are one of the ugliest-looking creatures, probably the most fearful to most people, yet it is the one God uses to teach us life’s lessons. That’s how God works. People ask, Why would God use as a spider an example out of all creatures? One reason: because people don’t look at it. God works in opposites of what we as humans think. Why would the God of the universe pick the smallest and the most hideous creature for man to look at? It’s because no one looks at it. If you notice, he never mentioned to look at man or the object or the expensive item, etc. Like in the New Testament, he said, Be like a child, never Be like an adult. Why? Because children are innocent/trusting/humble, and we are not; we are prideful. The reason why we fear things many times is because we don’t study/understand them, so we go on what we see on TV, hear from people, etc. Once you start looking at the spider in a different light, you will become less afraid to look/understand her and see her as God sees her, and the points he wants us to learn from her. Think about it, God picked the smallest creature, the ant, and the ugliest, the spider, for man to look at. He never even mentioned to look at man in Proverbs 30. In the New Testament church, he said to be as a child (childlike, not childish). He never mentioned to be as an adult. You see where God’s priorities are.

In my many years as a park ranger (over thirty-eight), the Lord has showed me many things, both good and bad, but it has been most eventful and educational. It’s funny, in my early years, I wanted to be a special agent in the government and was disappointed when I didn’t even get an interview in some of them after passing the first phase of the testing for various reasons. But God had other plans for me, like studying spiders and their world by being in nature’s surroundings. Like a composer can hear the music in his mind/ear that others cannot hear, I actually heard God speak to me through nature. It’s hard to explain, but I heard the Lord, not in actual words, but in silence. But there were sounds to his silence, as he pointed out, being the greatest teacher with his pointer, the marvelous wonders I was about to see. This was his plan for my life. My friend, you can hear God also if you would walk quietly/softly with him; for me, it’s in the quiet woods and the streams/lakes. We have to learn to distract the worldly sounds that hinder us from getting alone with God. He has a plan for all of our lives where the end result is to glorify God, not ourselves. The Lord put me in this nature field as a park ranger so I can see the spider in more detail than if I was working another job.

He has a plan for your life. The goal is to glorify God and bring people to salvation in Jesus Christ, and God does that in different ways to different people. T. D. Jakes says people follow extraordinary, not ordinary, and that there are higher conversations that people will not be able to see or hear other than you. It doesn’t mean that you’re a better person than someone else, but God will call many of you to a higher calling, like