I have been restless for several days, falling asleep as soon as I went to bed, waking three hours later and lying awake, thinking and praying about all that is going on.

And there’s a lot going on. On Thursday I knew I had an early start so I gave up trying to sleep again and got ready to leave. Still too early.

So I decided to water my new little plants in the garden. I was gentle with them. They are tiny and struggling in the intense heat to survive. A cool drink would see them through the day. Three cans of water later I had soaked them well and still had some water left.

The fuschia in the pot under my Chinese maple was also feeling the heat so I went towards it just as the sun rose above the horizon, flooding the garden with golden light.

As I bent over the fuschia my eye caught sight of it.

The gift. The rainbow.

Discovering the rainbows has always been my delight, so I stopped what I had been about to do and looked more closely. What was making rainbows?

And there it was.

A perfect spider’s web – long strands from the birdbath to the surrounding branches two to three metres above. And between each strand, perfectly shaped little curves of web. Each thread shimmered with light. In the centre the tiny master craftsman rested, legs tucked in. He must have been tired after such a mammoth task.

I gazed in delight for a minute or so, grateful as much for the joy the sight gave me as for the relief I had not walked through it and so been the one who ruined this perfect thing and as a result been covered in cobwebs!

The sun rose and the light changed and the web turned to grey.

I don’t think I’ll ever think of cobwebs in quite the same way again. This one was a thing of beauty and, as I turned back to my fuschia, my heart sang with joy to my Creator, for He was not just mine. He made the little spider and gave him the skill to weave the glorious web.

A thing of beauty and joy. A gift on this early morning start to my day.

Thank you, Jesus.