Beekeeping

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement
Beekeeping

Newspaper articles inform us that our bee population is dwindling. One consequence is the rise of price for delicious honey to spread on our bread and sweeten our tea. We’ve noticed more man-made bee hives as we drive about the countryside. Perhaps we notice because our awareness is heightened as a result of the articles. Or, perhaps because the word is out, more people become bee keepers. We have one of those in our family. Watching the care and keeping of bees up close fascinates us. The bee keeper has nothing but good, helpful intentions when he approaches his hives. He wants to assess if they are getting enough food and will feed them if they aren’t. He wants to determine if the Queen bee is still alive and present, because the hive won’t survive if she’s not. But the bees don’t know the beekeeper has invested in them and wants the best for them. They go into their defensive mode when he or she gets near and begins to remove the trays inside the hive to check on their wellbeing. In order to protect himself from defensive bee stings, a beekeeper dons a protective outfit which cover him from head to toe. His head gear, full white suit. and gloves cover every inch of the keeper from head to toe. We enjoyed watching our beekeeper tending to his hives.

The process makes me think of our relationship with God. While we don’t see Him approaching us in a hat with a screen all the way around it, He cares about our lives much more than a beekeeper cares about his beehives. God’s interest in us has nothing to do with what we can do for Him, but stems from His love for us, the love of the Creator for the people He created. We are sometimes the ones that don protective thinking when it comes to God. We have all sorts of reasoning that places layers of defensiveness between us and God. Instead, we can invite Him in to check our beehive of thoughts and actions knowing He is for us and not against us. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil…” He loves us beyond our human capacity to understand. We can relax our guard and ask our God, the keeper of our lives, to help us with all the difficulties we encounter. He is able and willing to sweeten our lives.