“Mommy Charlotte“
By Shelley M. Reed and Marissa Cina
DEDICATED TO MY MOM, Today on her birthday…November 22, 2025
I hate spiders.
I am therefore shocked to report that I have fallen in love with one.
My son found her perched on her towering but stunning web anchored to our wooden privacy fence. She is of the green garden spider tribe of Texas. At first sight, she is quite intimidating and HUGE! Well, to be honest, she scares me. Her two by three-inch lanky frame as well as her amber and ebony striped needle-like legs give me unwelcome flashbacks of a doctor’s syringe. Her neon yellow and black patterned torso screams hornet…RUN! You really couldn’t miss her. Her web stretches three feet in diameter with a unique zipper-shaped bullseye in its center where she sits manning her post. I decided to name her Charlotte. Yet beyond her frightening appearance she is this gentle giant going about her everyday thankless tasks. A Quasimodo persona– exhibiting an aura of strength and dignity in her mundane persistence.
Often throughout the last few weeks, as I let our pups out the back door, I would walk over to see what Charlotte was doing. I worried when it was mowing day wondering if my husband would destroy her home, injure her delicate frame, or chase her away. But each time, she would once more set up house in a new position on the north side of our fence line. Invisible silk threads anchored like tent stakes in the far corners of her exquisite masterpiece proud of the temporary home she had established. She truly was a woman of style who embraced her calling.
She was busy.
Never still.
Constructing.
Weaving.
Providing for herself and unbeknown to me, her soon to be family.
One day, as I was spying on her yet again, I saw something beautiful. She became a mommy. The egg sack looked like a Santa sac nestled in one corner of the fence behind her simple home. It was hanging suspended, swaddled in a blanket of silk. I was mesmerized. But what was even more amazing was a couple weeks later, another appeared, and another! Three egg sacs hanging in mid-air as mommy hustled and bustled around her web preparing…preparing for what?
SACRIFICE.
Recently, as I anticipated the hatching of those sweet bundles, my heart broke to watch Mommy fading away. Once tough as nails, resilient, and self-sufficient, her vigorous spirit began to fade. Her web shredded. Her stamina weakened.
SACRIFICE.
She fulfilled such a critical calling in her brief existence so her little ones would thrive and pass life and significance to the next generation.
Why did God create mothers? To establish a solid foundation for their children. To provide. To nurture. To love.
When my little ones were born, I never realized the sacrifice I would have to make for those tiny beings to excel under my care. Sacrifices of self. Independence. Energy. Time. Blood. Sweat. Tears.
But this is not a calling that ends with us or even them. It is a calling that reaches into future generations which brings an infinite purpose into this crucial role. I am reminded of God’s covenant with man and animal in Genesis 8:22 (AMP):
While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night,
Shall not cease
Charlotte is part of something much bigger, more divine. Her sacrifice is in rhythm with the foundations of the universe. She was precious enough as a creature to be created and preserved. And to submit to the created order from the Creator as a mother–it is a worthy endeavor, a worthy sacrifice of our egos and our selfishness, one that honors God in His infinite wisdom that has aligned the creatures with the seasons. We are seasonal creatures as well. While the earth remains, Charlotte’s offspring will be a critical, beautiful part of the cycle. While I remain on the earth, so will I.
Mommy Charlotte remains in my mind–weighing on my thoughts. The reality of parenting is sacrifice, but its eternal purpose transcends beyond what we can even fathom this side of heaven. It is an eternal call with eternal ramifications. In our surrender to the call of motherhood, we embrace an opportunity to teach the next generation the real meaning of truth, wisdom, life, and love. It is to show them that they can have an intimate relationship with the God of the universe that does not end here on earth but extends into our heavenly home. What a calling!
Proverbs 31:17, 25, 27, and 28 (ESV)
She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed…
I am finding that, as the children I raise become older, my mothering might look different, but the sacrifice remains. My adult son may not seem to need me as much at times, but I find myself on my knees going boldly before the throne of God on behalf of him a whole lot more than when he was a child! Thank you, Shelley, for your obedience to write! Praying for you, my friend!
It is interesting that you say that Heidi, because I have found that the older my kiddos get, the more I feel this urgency to pray. I think some of it is the fact that releasing them brings this plea to the Lord to take care of them because we can’t “control” their lives as we used to…even though He has had them all along…