“for the bee”
Isaiah 7:18
~
I tried to rescue a bee today. I don’t know if I succeeded or not.
It was in church. I was sitting at the end of the row. So I was sitting near the window and partway through the service, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was a bee, buzzing and flying in short bursts here and there, back and forth in front of the window.
At first I couldn’t tell if it was a bee or a fly, but he kept catching my eye and I soon noticed that he had moved from the floor to the windowsill, about three inches off the floor.
He seemed to be struggling. He was walking erratically, and then sometimes when I glanced over at him, he was on his back with his legs flailing in the air.
There wasn’t anything I could do during the service of course. I just glanced over at him every now and then, wondering how he was doing. He seemed to be getting weaker and slower in his movements and I thought maybe he was dying. I don’t know what the last moments in a bee’s life looks like… We owned a goldfish once ~ for about a week ~ that died, and I happened to be looking at him at the time. And the last seconds of his life were marked with a lot of seemingly pointless movements. He swam in a couple of crazy circles, around and around and up and down, and then he stopped abruptly and floated slowly to the top of the bowl. So I figured that maybe all the moving and flailing this little bee was doing, was kinda the same thing.
So when the service was over, I picked him up carefully with a card I had in my purse, and I carried him out to the garden. We went home then, and all I could do was wonder.
Now, I’m not a tree-hugging, earth-loving kind of person. I’ve killed my share of bugs in my home. But I do have an appreciation for bees, and their impact on our food supply. And there’s just something about seeing an animal struggling that makes me more compassionate towards them.
Here’s the thing that stuck with me: There was really nothing I could do to help him. If it was his time to go, there was not a bee doctor in the world who could have helped him. But by moving him to the garden, I was giving him his best chance. He was in his own element, in the shade, out of the way of people walking, etc. He still had fighting to do, but his circumstances were now on his side.
And you know what? The same is true for you and me. Though neither of us is a bee, fighting for our lives, we do have struggles, and God wants us to grow and succeed through them. So He’s given us everything we need. From His Spirit and His Word, to the people around us, and the circumstances we find ourselves in ~ good and bad.
The day-to-day can be difficult sometimes. You might feel like you’re stuck on your back, flailing pointlessly. But He knows better. And He’s got you in a place and a position in which you can succeed. And most importantly, you’re not alone. Emmanuel.
Light Expectations 