BUSY AS A BUMBLEBEE
The other day the Lord and I went on one of our “Love Walks”. It was his way to get me outside and to move my legs after I had been sitting at my desk for long hours while working on the launch of several projects the Lord has me focused on right now. So, at a certain point, God said, “Come on, let’s go outside”.
It was a gorgeous day, one of those perfect late spring days where the sun is bright, the skies are blue, the clouds are perfectly white and fluffy, low humidity, and a soft breeze. It had rained a bit the night before and cooled things down considerably after having several days with temperatures near or above 90 degrees. And on this day, it seemed as if EVERY flower was in full bloom. At almost every patch or flowering tree, I would stop to both gaze at and smell the blooms. Mmmmmm sooo fragrant.
What’s most amazing is that every time I stopped to smell a bloom, I felt myself relax more and more and into a place of peace and thanksgiving. The Lord delighted in my reactions, and I delighted in our conversations as we walked. But I wasn’t the only one in the flowering bushes or trees, the Bumblebees were out in droves as well buzzing from petal to petal and from bloom to bloom.
I’m not frightened of bees, so they don’t bother me, and they were totally unphased by my presence as well. At one point I just stood watching them buzz about and I said out loud to the Lord, “they really are busy bees aren’t they” To which he responded,
“Yes, they’re very busy, BUT they’re not busy just to be busy, they are very productive. Their busyness is not idle busyness. They are extremely intentional about their purpose. When they leave the nest, they go to the designated foraging area for the day, collect what they need and then head back to the nest where they continue to work until it’s time to rest for the night and then they go back at it the next day. They are very diligent creatures and are about the business of their purpose.”
He then reminded me that bees will send out a scouting party to search out the foraging places and once found, they will then go back to the others and communicate with them through movements where the foraging place is located. So, that began a conversation between us about being busy with purpose and intention vs being busy just to be busy. And as he mentioned, a rocking chair when in motion is busy, but where is it going? The same is with us. When we think about productivity and managing our time, are we choosing things to “LOOK” busy, are we busy doing things that really aren’t productive and causing us not to advance forward, or are we busy with the intention of being productive in our purpose?
And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
- Genesis 1:22
And God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.
- Genesis 1:28 AMPC
In the Garden of Eden, God blessed his creation to be fruitful, and to multiply. The blessing given to man included the part to replenish the earth and subdue it. Essentially, we were all given the expectation of focused productivity. God’s creatures seem to “understand the assignment” as they say, but do we? Do we fully understand what is required of us? It’s time to sit with the Holy Spirit and ask him how he sees our activity and if there are things which need to be adjusted. The bumblebees are busy about their Creator’s business and Jesus was busy about the Father’s business. The question now remains, are we?