Have you ever really looked at a spider web?

 

We’ve all seen them, strung up between bushes in the yard, or maybe in the corner of the basement, dangling from the rafters. Maybe you’ve gotten an unintentional close-up look as you walked through one on a wooded trail, the silk wrapping around your head while you scrambled to free yourself from the sticky entanglement.

But have you ever taken the time to truly see a spider web? The intricate, systematic construction, the purposeful design, with threads radiating out from the center and crisscrossing the spiral, again and again, like tiny support beams holding the web securely in place. It is beauty and purpose perfectly intertwined. It’s a wonder of nature.

The spider web is not only beautiful; it’s practical. It’s the ideal trap, a model of efficiency, fashioned over millions of years of evolutionary improvement. What’s more amazing is that it only takes the spider a few hours to create this one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

For years scientists have been studying spiders and their webs, trying unsuccessfully to duplicate the incredibly strong silk that spiders use to make the frame lines that anchor their webs and suspend them in midair. This natural protein is one of the strongest and most flexible materials known. In fact, some silk is as strong as Kevlar—the material used to make bulletproof vests.

Now you’re probably thinking, this is all very interesting, but what in the world does a spiderweb have to do with me? More than you’d think.

The spider web is the ideal representation of the strength and power found through interconnectedness. And when you harness its strength and power and apply it to your life, amazing things can happen. You can catch your dreams.

There’s an old Ethiopian proverb that says, “When spider webs unite, they can tie down a lion.”Think about that for a moment. Sometimes in life, that’s what your goals and dreams can seem like—a fearsome, untamable lion. And there you are, a lonesome spider, a minuscule speck of dust in comparison to the formidable king of the jungle. No matter how hard you try to catch the lion by yourself, you keep failing. It’s not for lack of effort; it’s just that you are outsized and outmatched.

But when you connect with others through authentic relationships—that is, ones that are transparent, nonjudgmental, and keep you accountable—when you are given access to theirskills, wisdom, and resources, you can grow and strengthen your web until it becomes a giant, far-reaching, impenetrable web that will help you catch whatever you want out of life.

 

This is the essence of The Spider Web Philosophy.

 

As faithful believers of the Word of God, we should understand that both our existence and our salvation are predicated upon relationships. God the Father created us for the purpose of a relationship with Him and designed us to be fully human only when we are in a relationship(s)with one another. He also sent His son to die for us so that our relationship with Him might be repaired and established for eternity. God even compares the relationship between a husband and a wife with that of the husband and his own body (Ephesians, 5:25), as well as the connection between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:28). With this in mind, we can easily deduce that our quality of life depends greatly on the quality of our relationships and appreciate that God has given us examples numerous illustrations of this truth to ensure that we neither overlook nor forget it.

This concept was revealed to me and three of my closest friends while we intentionally sought success by serving each other as a board of personal advisors. We don’t claim to be experts on spiders. Far from it. We are, however, relationship experts. We have seen firsthand how fostering authentic relationships and then leveraging those relationships can help you determine your passions god given purpose and help you get what you want out of life. We’ve all lived and continue to live the Spider Web Philosophy and have reaped the benefits of dedicating ourselves to it. We believe in the power of this philosophy, and we have tangible proof of its effectiveness. Now we wish to share this power with you and show you that, when you believe in it and adhere to its principles when you live your life with purpose and open your mind and heart to God’s will, amazing things can happen. Amazing things will happen