The morning air was soft as a breeze as I stepped out onto my little country porch shortly after six o’clock the other morning.  I watched the sunrise just faintly showing a smear of pink over the tops of the tall pine trees, as the day tried to decide if it was time to get going or not.

Glancing over at my hummingbird feeders, I saw that two of them were nearly empty and I knew that those little ones would be in a feeding frenzy at first light.  Lifting the one nearest me from it’s hook, I turned and started toward the door.  A glistening spider web hanging low from the right corner post swayed gently in the breeze, a hint of moisture giving it a shimmer of beauty.  My little Miss Charlotte was nowhere to be seen.  She was likely lying in wait for the next tasty morsel to come her way.

Going on inside, I made up some warm juice for my little bird friends and wiped the glass bottle down with a soft old dishtowel.  Picking it up I hurried back out to the porch to get it hung before the invasion began.  I was too late.  Hummingbirds were flitting here and there as they sought the sustenance they so needed.

To my utter horror, I saw something that I have never imagined seeing in my life.  There, hanging helplessly upside down with its wings and tail feathers caught securely in the spider web, was a small female hummingbird.  She was quite frantic as her cries for help resounded in the quiet morning.  To make matters worse, Miss Charlotte was dancing delicately  across the threads toward the soon to be victim.

Acting on reflex, I reached up and swatted my hand toward the spider.  Realizing that I was much larger than she was and I was not ready to put up with her nonsense, she backed off, glaring balefully at me from her upper corner.

Hurrying as fast as I could, I ran into the kitchen and grabbed up the damp dishtowel.  Racing back to the porch, I gently wrapped the towel around the frantic little bird.  Amazingly, she quieted down and only chirped a time or two as she waited, almost patiently for me to remove the sticky webs from her feathers.  It was harder than one might think to do so.  They clung to her and were almost as if woven in amongst the tiny threads of her soft wings.

Slowly, as she became free of the confining restraints, she began to push against my hands, trying to get free.  Setting her gently on the grass at the porch steps, I waited to see if she would fly away.  She tried mightily to do so, however, it seemed her balance was off.  Suddenly it dawned on me. . . she wasn’t able to stand on her tiny feet, and thus she could not get the balance she needed to propel herself into the air.

Picking the bird up again, I looked closely and say that indeed, the spider web was literally wrapped around and around her legs and upper feet.  Carefully I removed as much of the sticky substance as was possible.  Holding her on the palm of my hand, I waited.  After a moment, she shook herself once, and with a joyful leap, took off for the crepe myrtle tree some feet away.

It was clear that she was determined somehow to shake of the nearly invisible bonds holding her back and resume her life once again.

Meanwhile, Miss Charlotte sat in a huff on the edge of her decimated web, frowning for all to see.  She was not at all happy at loosing what surely would have been the prize catch of the day.

As I thought about how quickly that incredible little hummingbird became trapped and completely immobilized in such a delicate thing as a spider web, I started thinking about how as believers, many times we become entangled in the webs of life; webs of sin and shame.

We are simply going about life, eating, drinking, working, raising our families, taking care of our loved ones, and the snares of Satan suddenly come before us and trip us up or ensnare us to the point that we can do nothing but hang helplessly upside begging for help.

It is then that the Holy Spirit comes alongside and helps us down, takes a towel and wraps it around us and comforts us.  And then, once we are all cleaned up and the Blood of Jesus has made us whole again, we are free to begin living our lives once again.  Perhaps a little wiser than before and certainly a bit more wary of what could come at us.

As I pondered these things, I was reminded of this verse in Hebrews 12 – for surely without Christ we would be lost.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

New International Version (NIV)