The deck on the house where I live faces the eastern horizon. In recent years from that deck, I have witnessed no small number of magnificent sunrises. One day last week as I stepped out into the morning I encountered another delightful surprise.
It appeared as though the sun’s rays were streaming directly at me barely above ground level. The sunlight, in concert with the glistening dew, highlighted hundreds of tiny spider webs as they lay motionless in the morning grass. I paused to marvel at the scene before me.
No, on second thought, there were not hundreds of tiny spider webs – there were thousands. Like tiny patterns crocheted with diamonds, they sparkled throughout the length and breadth of my front yard.
Curiously, I ventured out into the yard for further inspection. As I knelt to get a closer look, I noticed some were almost symmetrical in design, while others took the shape of the varying levels of grass.
“Why so many?” I wondered. Then as I continued walking, I noticed hundreds of tiny grasshopper-like critters flitting before me just above the grass.
“Ah ha!” I laughed. “Many traps set for many preys.”
I knelt again to carefully inspect one of the diminutive snares. At its center lay a tiny spider, its legs drawn close drawn in close. Orange red in color, it looked like a little red ant as it lay motionless…waiting.
“What a small world in which it operates,” I thought.
Compared to the larger eco-system of the earth, that little spider’s world is, indeed, a tiny, tiny one. Compared to the ever-expanding universe, the world we know as our earth is even tinier. And yet there are smaller worlds within our world.
We have learned that termites can digest wood fiber only because of the tiny bacteria that live in their gastrointestinal tracts. Now that’s a small world. Within our own bodies white corpuscles spend their lives on search and destroy missions - another small world. And then there is the world of the single cell…infinitesimally small.
Against the backdrop of the universe, David the shepherd king was moved to proclaim, “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man that Thou art mindful of him?”
Most of us spend about one-third of our time asleep. We spend another third in and around our homes. The other third – a little more, a little less - we spend in our work world. When you really think about it, our individual worlds are fairly…small.
Today’s larger world now finds itself being influenced by sweeping and unsettling political winds. Clear thinkers are acutely aware of America’s accelerated moral decline. The Judeo-Christian work ethic upon which our nation was founded and under whose influence it grew strong is under increasing attack. Principles of hard work and integrity and honesty and commitment and a strict moral code are going out of style, it seems.
In Jesus’ address known as the Sermon on the Mount, he tenderly challenged children of God by saying, “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.”
I am a Southerner by birth and by choice. Consequently, I enjoy good southern food. When I think about southern food I think fatback, salt pork, ham hock and fried- meat grease. All of which are loaded with salt. Salt is still king as a preservative
and as a flavor enhancer. If you want flavor, bring on the salt.
One of our privileges as God’s children is to bring flavor to an otherwise tasteless world. Words that come to mind are kindness, patience, love, joy, gentleness, meekness, longsuffering, and peace, to name a few.
We are also called to bring light to a dark world. Paul the Apostle offered things upon which we might set our minds – things just and honest and pure and lovely and of a good report. Add to that list hope and optimism and courage and faith and a good example, and the darkness must seek another place to flourish.
Salt and light. Never underestimate the influence you have in your world.
It’s not that big of a place.
Copyright 2026 by Jack McCall
