Marriage Moats-Honey Bee

Published: Wed, 01/26/11

Marriage Moats	Caring for Marriage

Bees are a stellar example of labor and commitment. They even know how to add fun to their work day, by dancing as a form of giving information. I wonder if I could try that.

"Dinner is (rumba, rumba) ready," pointing with my eyebrows and hips toward the dining room. I could double clap my hands, first to the left and then to the right, with a lifted shoulder and a wink, to alert John to the trash cans waiting to be emptied.

Bees do not have a day off, as far as I can tell. Neither is there a retirement program worth mentioning. But they do get to enjoy the sweetest, most beautiful flowers ever invented, and they eat honey every day.

How is it that something with a brain no bigger than a freckle, can be more resilient than me? I work fewer hours, complain more and live in less crowded conditions. They are capable of a fierce sting, but only one. My barb strikes weekly.

Bees depend on the sun for all navigation and communication. They even use it as a guide when they can't actually see it behind the clouds. That seems like a better base than some of my more capricious directions. Neither can I pretend that my communication is always looking toward my Source of light. Am I that trusting when God hides? When I am lost in Forgetful Forest, and cannot find my way back to my Honey, have I developed the skill of remembering where I last saw the Sun of Heaven, and using it as my compass?

I have something to learn from these humble creatures, if only that I am not the queen bee.

Photo by Jenny Stein