Beeeeeees!

Lately I have been helping Marianna's family with harvesting honey and vegetables from their farm in a nearby town. It's not very challenging work but I found myself messing things up still! Interestingly enough, as we gather the honey, I find there's a lot of time for thinking. As I thought about the bees, a couple of things started to amaze me;

• Bees are individual beings yet work as a team for the sake of the hive.
• From birth to death, each bee works continually for the increase and safety of the hive.
• They protect and tend to the young but also have a system of growing them up to help in the work.
• The young fit seamlessly into the existing system, yet all are capable of adapting for the sake of the hive.
  
• Any single bee will willingly sacrifice it's life for the safety of the hive.
• A bee will travel for miles to find that which will feed the hive in it's time of need.
  
• They take something bitter and inedible and turn it into something sweet and nourishing.
• They produce more than they could ever use and help others by pollinating plants so fruits and vegetables can be eaten.
• Every now and then a new queen is born. Multiplication is part of their plan from the beginning.
  

As a Christian, this has some obvious ideas and illustrations for me.

• The church should be working together; individuals working together in harmony for the sake of the church and churches working together for the sake of the Kingdom.
• Each member should be walking in the Spirit, active in the gifts God gave them and not trying to be what they are not created to be.
• A church should be protecting and helping new believers while training them to become the next generation of leaders and servants.
• The young and old shouldn't be fighting about ways to do things but be respectful of each other, allowing God's Spirit to work as it desires.
  
• Each person shouldn't be focusing on what the church can do for them but what they can do for the kingdom through the church. More then that, their eyes should always be on honoring and serving our King!
  
• Every experience, bad as well as good, should be seen through the eyes of faith and turned into a testimony and witness of God's goodness and faithfulness, drawing people to Him.
• The church should be reaching out and helping both other Christians and the lost to be nourished and grow in the knowledge of God. Sharing their excess and giving to those in need.
  
• The church should be replicating and reproducing!

Last interesting thought; for a bee to serve the colony, it must be born twice! Gotta love farming. :)