The slow breeze made the spider’s web flap like a flag in the wind.  I pause a few feet before the great hunter’s snare to observe the skillful way he set his trap.  This large brown spider was suspended underneath the rusty tin of an abandoned barn.  His was not a pretty web; no doubt this was the scene of many great battles.  This battered web was covered with scars left from the struggles of life and death.

        I watched as each of his eight legs was positioned strategically upon the triggers of his sticky weapon.  Motionless he waits for his next guest to make the first move.  Patiently he hangs around awaiting the vibrations that will ring his dinner bell.  When he feels the pulse of his prey struggling to free himself he will spring into action and seal the deal.  As I look at the spider riding his web like a surfer rides a mighty wave I try to visualize the secret of his success.  What is the key to his survival?  The answer is sensitivity.  He is able to feed his family only because he is sensitive to the trembling strings of his silver trap.

        The people who mean the most to us are not the strongest, most intelligent or even the best looking.  They are the ones who are sensitive enough to realize we were hurting and loving enough to pause and listen.  I have been blessed to have had many people in my life who were considerate and compassionate.   Discouraged people don’t need critics.  They hurt enough already.  They don’t need more guilt or piled-on distress.  They need encouragement.  They need a refuge; a willing, caring, available someone. 

        Today as you set in the middle of the web of your life be sensitive.  When you feel the tremor of someone who is hurting or discouraged take the time to offer a word of encouragement.  If we meet the fallen let us rush to their side and help them up.  The capacity to care gives life its deepest significance.  Let’s be sensitive to the needs of those around us and realize that one day it will be us who will need support and understanding.  We all go through tough times and each of us can be of help to somebody if only we are sensitive.  Happiness is a choice; choose to be sensitive.

Something to think about:

• Empathy is your pain in my heart.

• Instead of putting others in their place, try putting yourself in their place.

• Said a wise man to one in deep sorrow, “I did not come to comfort you; God only can do that; but I did come to say how deeply and tenderly I feel for you in your affliction.”

• To understand any living thing you must creep within and feel the beating of its heart.

• Is not sight a jewel? Is not hearing a treasure? Is not speech a glory? O my Lord, pardon my ingratitude, and pity my dullness who am not sensible of these gifts.

• Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness.

Thankful for my sensitive friends
Rickey Moore