Consider the Bees

I never knew bees could be so exhilarating. I never really thought much about ‘em I guess. That was until I saw April and Stevie take a headfirst dive into amateur beekeeping this year. And amateur is the perfect word to describe them. Not because they aren’t skilled. They certainly are. They are amateurs because they aren’t doing it for the money. They are doing it purely for the passion of it. They just love those bees.

And as I’ve observed their budding beekeepers passion I can’t help but think that they are showing me something of the heart of God. On child like tip-tip they waited for the nucleus to come in the mail. In earnest determination they assembled and painted their hives. In tenderness they carefully and meticulously transferred those bees into their new home. Their labor is so good. And it seems to me, godly.

The older I get the more I appreciate the preciousness of God’s creative gifts. And by creative gifts I mean both the gifts of artistic beauty and the gifts he gave in the moments he created the entire world. In Genesis we get a beautiful picture of God creating a world that is in bloom, that is beautiful, and that is pregnant with possibilities for cultivating a flourishing life. This is why the image of Garden is right.

And into that Garden God placed humans. And the Bible says that God gave human beings a purpose in that place. They were to work. But not just work. They were to work to good purpose and to good pleasure. They were to work and keep their place in such a way that they would cultivate flourishing growth. And they were to enjoy themselves to the glory of God. The picture of their labor is summed up in the phrase exercising dominion. Humans were created to rule and reign their environment like a good and wise King—like God. Humans were created to be princes and princesses of this Garden world, co-laboring alongside and on behalf of God himself.

The problem of course is that further down the storyline we bump into the fall. The serpent, sin, and death enter into the Garden. Our work becomes cursed. And now every human has to fight through miserable thorns as we go about our work. But even though our work is cursed, the original design is still in place. The original purpose of our work is still God’s desire. Even in the brokenness of the world God is actively redeeming our humanity. And as it relates to work, God is showing us what it looks like to cultivate a beautiful life through the labor of our hands.

Examples of this beautiful work can be seen in often overlooked areas of our lives. Spirit empowered beautiful work can be seen in the quiet morning ours of a mothers daily work of preparing good food for her child to eat. It can be seen in the way a barista makes eye contact or calls a customer by name while crafting a good cup of coffee. It can be seen in the way the electrician terminates a ground wire safely, doing his part to ensure the building will be safe from potential calamity. Paraphrasing the often quoted words of Luther: Christian work is doing a good job.

So consider the bees. God cares for the little bees with big love. Jesus pointed this out with the way God causes the flowers to grow and how he feeds the birds. God’s creative provision can be seen and tasted in wherever we look in this world. Grace is everywhere.

But don’t just consider the bees. Consider the beekeepers. April and Stevie’s heart for the bees gives us a tangible picture of what it looks like to work and keep the Garden, to labor for the glory of God and for the joy of being a human. These princesses of the bees do more than show us their hobby; they show us the heart of our King.