Jesus And Bees… Good morning, Hump Day readers. Yes, I am using bees for this devotion! And the reason for it was something a camper said to me yesterday when I was helping her with a reservation. She had tried to make one online but her phone didn’t have enough bars and I could see she was frustrated. “I’ll help you” I told her and she stopped in her tracks so to speak, looked at me and said “Really? I’m not used to that.” As I put in her address, etc., I could see her hands shaking; I also saw a wedding ring that was now on her pinky finger on her right hand. I wasn’t going to ask, but she looked at me with tears and said “It is very hard to be a widow, no one recognizes you, not even your friends and help is hard to find.” We spoke a bit and I hope my words encouraged her on this new ‘single’ journey in her life.

This short encounter reminded me of how hurtful it can be when you are not recognized. Even Jesus encountered this problem! In John 21:1-4 [Message] we read:

“After this, Jesus appeared again to the disciples, this time at the Tiberias Sea. This is how he did it: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael from Cana…the brothers Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. Simon Peter announced, “I’m going fishing.” The rest of them replied, “We’re going with you.” They went out and got in the boat. They caught nothing that night. When the sun came up, Jesus was standing on the beach, but they didn’t recognize him.”

And this brings me to Suzanne Tietjen, a freelance-writer for Guideposts and other magazines. Suzanne is a Beekeeper. She describes them like this: “Each is a separate organism but is a member of the hive, which itself resembles an organism. The bees’ changing roles parallel human development: first as larva, fed by others; then workers, advancing through the ranks as housekeepers, caregivers, undertakers, builders, packers, fixers—even controlling the temperature in the hive. Some bees guard the hive, while others finally graduate to fieldwork, becoming scouts and foragers.”

I had no idea of the intelligence of bees until I read her story! She has such an intimate relationship with her bees that they fly within a few inches of her face, flitting, zig-zagging in and out within inches of her nose like they are scouting her out. And they are! Bee research discovered that bees can see a pixelated image of the human face and recognize their beekeeper and love to hover and look into their eyes! Suzanne would tell you “They know me, they recognize me as a friend and helper.”

OK, back to Jesus, isn’t this a description of our Savior? Even Mary mistook him as the gardener and Cleopas and companions on the Emmaus Road didn’t recognize him either! Isn’t this also a lot like our lives? We see others through a veil way too often. It’s not always on purpose, but in our hurried society we have stopped looking and caring and making conversations with one another (texting is not conversing!) Like my encounter with this widow, we pass by with little acknowledgement. The statistics on widow/widower mental health shows the depression and heartache of being un-recognized which creates isolation and cuts their life-span.

Suzanne visits her bees daily—completely unveiled. They see her and know her and the trust and love between human and bees is a 2-way blessing. In the same way, Jesus is present to us always, no veil, no snub—just loving recognition and his constant presence in our lives. We get so busy we forget to listen for Jesus’ tender whisper and rush through life not taking the time to speak with Jesus in prayer and relish his presence.

In closing, try this exercise that Suzanne uses each day before she goes out to see her bees: “Close your eyes and imagine Jesus with you face-to-face. Keep that image before you as you come to Him in prayer. Let that image be with you throughout your day.” You may not be going out to see bees, but you will be going out into a tough world that may often not even recognize you or care about you and that is a hard “sting” to your heart. Jesus will never do that. He knows you inside and out. In fact, He created you and loves you and recognizes you every single moment of your life so, ‘bee’-happy and joyful for you are always known and loved, AMEN.