Feeling Crabby?

Welcome my friend! It’s time for our tea & reflection together.

Let’s grab our cuppa’s, treats & get comfy to ponder & reflect awhile.

My blend today is Lemon & ginger tea with a delicious gf Brownie.

Today

As it’s such a beautiful spring day (yes it’s Spring in this part of the world), I decided to have a mid morning break with a walk along the Beach.

While I was walking, enjoying the sound of the birds, watching the gentle ebb & flow of the waves on the low tide sandy mud flats.

I noticed the sand seemed to be alive with movement, the sunlight was reflecting & glistening off the moist backs of hundreds of little Blue Soldier crabs!

I paused to watch them as they went about their busyness. They’re such fascinating little fellows!

A fascinating life 

Did you know that they’re called Soldier crabs because they move in formation of groups up to a hundred.

As soldiers did on the battlefields in the 1800’s, zigzagging. This is thought to be a protective mechanism against predatory dangers.

They’re the only crabs in the world that walk straight ahead not sideways. Holding their nippers down in front of them not above their heads.

They’re often found in separate male & female groups, but live in their own burrows close by each other under the sand.

They’re synced to come out of their burrows with the exact timing of the tides, even when taken away from the sea!

They’re color, blue, in the natural world is normally a warning to predators that this creature is poisonous & to leave well alone.

But for these little fellows it’s just mimicry as they’re not poisonous!

They don’t like cold weather & they’re the only creature known to have purple knees!

They’re the most perfect little sand cleaners, using their pincers to shovel dirty sand into their mouths, cleaning it from all bacteria & spitting it out clean!

They’re only the size of your toenail! 

How does this relate to us?

Well there’s a saying, you may have heard it or used the term yourself…

  I’m feeling a little crabby today!

Crabbiness is known in this part of the World as feeling grumpy, annoyed or out of sorts.

So when I saw the Blue Soldier Crabs this morning,  I wondered why we have that saying.

Was it from observing crab behavior or did it originate elsewhere?

Looking at the above behavior of these little fellows though I can see similar traits in our human behavior;

• We often gather in our own gender groups.
• We come together when danger is afoot, to help each other.
• We enjoy living in our own space but come out to socialize in sync with each new day.
• We are also rather good at mimicry!
• And some of us get purple knees in cold weather! Lol!

Where we differ

We as a people on planet Earth haven’t been good at keeping this world clean in fact we have been the polluters!

We often choose to not walk straight ahead but rather take the more attractive & tempting side ways!

Which often lead us to a place of feeling crabby & ultimately broken.

For God tells us in His Word that if we,

Trust in Him with all our heart. And not lean on our own understanding & in all our ways acknowledge Him. He will make our paths straight.

   Proverbs 3: 5-6 (paraphrased)

Did you notice it begins with Trust then progresses to not leaning on our own understanding. 

So often we lean on our own understanding in situations, don’t we?

We may think we are trusting God for the situation but deep down it’s not with all our heart…

Oh, we pray for that situation to change, praying it to go a certain way because we believe we know exactly how it should go…I see you nodding your head in agreement here!

However, let’s look at that verse again shall we, it says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.”

So, if we are praying for a certain outcome, then we are leaning on our own understanding & not acknowledging His sovereign will in the situation.

Essentially we have started walking sideways into our own heart’s desire & understanding rather then God’s wisdom for the situation!

And boy can we get all crabby when things don’t get answered the way we think they should have gone! Hmmmm?

He will make our paths straight

You see my dear friend, we don’t have God’s wisdom nor do we truly know a situation, even if we are living it.

For only God Himself sees the beginning from the end & knows the plans He has for every life & situation.

Acknowledging this means we can rest in His assurance that He is working & keeping His promise to not only walk alongside us but going ahead making the crooked paths straight!

“Do not fear, for I am with you…”

Isaiah 41:10

“I will go before you & make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze & cut through their iron bars. And I will give you hidden treasures of darkness…”

Isaiah 45: 2-3

The Origin

After doing some research the word crabby is thought to come from a fourteenth century word kra-bè meaning cranky.

Although, I believe there had to have been some type of observation of the natural world for crabs to have inherited that name & for our modern day spelling of crabbiness.

Are you feeling crabby today my friend?

Have you asked yourself if you are truly trusting God with all your heart for the situation.

Next time, we will look at what Hidden Treasures of Darkness means…

You can see the Blue Soldier Crab in action HERE

Jennifer

You’re also most welcome to join me in The Reading Nook

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© 2020, Jennifer M. Ross, teawithjennifer.blog, All Rights Reserved. Photo by Enrique Pacudan on Pexels.com 

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