My friends, the bees, by Linda Gail Johnson
God teaches us unusual things in unusual ways. What can pests add to your life? Read on…
It all began in my daughter’s seventh grade science class. The subject was plants and pollination. The text covered three types of pollination: self-pollination, cross-pollination, and artificial cross-pollination.
The first, self-pollination happens when an excess of pollen in a flower causes pollination to take place within that same flower; hence the name, self-pollination.
Immediately after reading this description my brains dendrites began firing and an analogy began to grow. Prayer and meditation, fasting and Biblical studies will fill us to the point that we can produce that which God has planted in us. This was good. I was getting excited about this science class, much to my daughter’s dismay.
The next method, cross-pollination, is the method in which small animals, rain, wind, and insects carry pollen from one plant to another.
In spite of my best efforts, my mind returned to analogies. What did these things mean for my daily life?
Another name for an insect is a pest. Pests are things that irritate me. Small animals might represent the small inconveniences that arise and hinder my plans and production. Rain could be the dark days that hide life’s sunshine. Wind is the storms that test my faith. Yet the irritations encourage patience by teaching me self-control. The small inconveniences cultivate steadfastness, instructing me in diligence no matter the deterrent. The rain promotes contentment in every season of my life that I may know an unspeakable joy. The wind when rocking me loosens the earth around me allowing my roots to go deeper, producing a stronger faith in Him.
Desiring more, I hungrily read the next method.
Artificial cross-pollination occurs when a person gathers pollen from one particular flower, and, using a special brush or blower, applies it to another flower. I thought back to the different people God has sent into my life. Each had left a signature fragrance that remained long after they had gone. Some had left a sweet smell while others had left an unpleasant odor that lingered for years. In life, people bring both the good and the bad. But each produces its own kind of growth.
The “sweet’ pollinate the Word and encouragement in my life promoting deep, thirsty roots of faith in Christ and juicy fruits of the Spirit. While the “odorous” flit about seeking to pollinate the works of the flesh, blowing strife, anger, bitterness, and hatred into my life. It is a choice whether I refuse or accept their poisonous powder, or as a pollinator myself, brush their lives with peace, forbearance, forgiveness, and love.
The science class ended. I closed the textbook, reached for my Bible, and began applying the scientific lesson along with the Word, humbled by the new perspective on life’s difficulties. Each is a chance for me to grow.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Galatians 6: 7-9).
Like the plants and the trees, I may not have a choice in the “pollinators” that the Creator sends into my life. However, I do have a choice to apply the sweet “pollen” and brush off the “odoriferous” to grow in the garden of the Almighty.