Sing along here, with “3” spiders:
THREE itsy bitsy spiders climbed up the water spout;
Down came the rain and washed the spiders out;
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
And…
“Whoa!” the first little spider cried. “That scared the bee-jeebers out of me! I’m never going to climb up that water spout again!”
The second little spider whimpered, “It scared me too, but we have to climb up the spout again; that’s what we’re supposed do. It’s in the song. All little spiders climb up water spouts. Everyone knows that. What would the other spiders say about us? We have to climb back up the spout.”
The third little spider said, “Hey, y’all (yes, they were southern spiders), don’t get all upset. Sure, it was scary, but it was exciting too. And we survived, didn’t we?”
The first two spiders didn’t look so sure about that, but the third spider had more to say.
“Let’s think about the possibilities here. Hmmm. It could even be considered fun. Aha! I have an idea! Let’s rig the spout to have water all the time. We can make it into a theme park and sell tickets. We can call it a, uh, hmm, we could call it a…(pause) Water Spout World. Yeah! Water Spout World! Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
The small friends looked doubtful and were shaking their heads.
“We can have a wading pool for little spiders (and others) who are too scared to climb to the top of the water spout. We can sell tickets, and whole families can come for the entire day! Ooh! And we can have a concession stand! We’ll serve HamBUGgers and French FLIES! And we’ll advertise it all on THE WEB!”
The first two spiders sadly shook their heads and walked away, muttering, “Crazy spider” and other unkind epithets.
The third little spider was not deterred, but went ahead with the crazy idea. Eventually, a few other spiders shared the vision, and before long they opened their first “Water Spout World.” It was a great success, and soon they opened a second one on a water spout in the next block.
Within three years, you could find a “Water Spout World” in every neighborhood in Dallas. Then, a couple of the spiders who were serving on the board of directors of Water Spout World hitched a ride on Arthropod Airlines and took the idea to other cities.
The rest of the story is well known to all who follow the stock market or read The Wall Shade Journal. Water Spout World went public. The third little spider sold out and retired with a hefty fortune, but continued to enjoy a lifetime pass to Water Spout World.
There are many lessons in the story of the Three Little Spiders. Perhaps you will take some time later to consider them. For this blog and this day, I want to focus on one issue.
We all, sooner or later, get flushed down a water spout. The important issue is… what do we do next? When life has washed us down a water spout, when we’re sitting soggy, bruised, and scared at the bottom, we must not let fear and circumstances dictate our response.
It’s okay to be afraid… as long as you don’t let it stop you.
Depending upon your beliefs, you may have some spiritual support… or maybe you have close family and friends who will encourage you… or maybe you feel afraid, lost and alone at the bottom of your water spout, with no place to turn. Feel free to contact me if that’s the case. Seriously. You won’t get any professional counseling from me, but I can listen. And, believe it or not, I don’t tell everything I hear.
Whatever the situation is at the bottom of the spout, we must turn immediately to the source of our power and trust so that we will receive peace and wisdom for the next step. Sometimes, the next step is not a step at all, but simply being still.
The best way to implement a good post-spout process is to start before we think we will need it.
Start before the rain clouds gather. Start while the sun is shining. Start right now. Reach out and help someone else. The help that you give will come back to you when you need it… maybe not (and most probably not) from the same person you helped, but someone, somewhere, somehow….
We are far more fortunate than the Three Little Spiders, but perhaps thinking about what they did will remind us that we do have the answer in any potentially scary situation. At the bottom of every water spout in our lives, our possibilities are unlimited.
“And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again….”