Pastoral Ponderings—Pollen Pockets
I have one bee hive going right now because I lost one earlier in the summer, and this one is not in the best shape, so likely has only around 15,000 bees in it (a typical healthy hive has between 30-40k bees). I’m hoping the hive will be able to survive the winter, and to do that, they are busy as bees collecting pollen and making honey.
I’ve been fascinated this week when checking the bees to see big, bright pouches of pollen on their little bee legs (likely from the goldenrod my allergies hate!). Well, “big” is quite the relative term—on bees’ knees, a “big” pollen pouch is the size of a pin-head. But that little pin-head’s worth of pollen, tiny as it is, along with thousands of other pin-heads’ worth of pollen collected over time, is usually enough to many feed thousands of tiny little bee tummies all winter, to set the stage for a wonderful honey harvest the following season!
Do you ever feel like what little you do for God’s sake—maybe just a pinhead’s worth of good, is hardly even noticeable, let alone worthwhile or meaningful? If those bees thought that though, and stopped collecting their little bits at a time, their hive would starve! Likewise, there’s a wonderful little story about a squirrel sitting on a branch in a heavy snow, asking the wise old owl how much a snowflake weighs. “Nothing,” replied the owl, “Less than nothing.” They continued to watch together in silence as the snow continued to collect on the branch, until a few more wet snowflakes landed, and the branch broke off and fell to the ground.
What seems like nothing, even less than nothing– whether bee pollen, snowflakes, or the small blessings and kindnesses we share with those around us—does add up! Keep on keepin’ on—and as each of us stays busy as bees doing our little parts of God’s work, those little bits of blessing build up together to do Great Things to nourish others through the dark, cold seasons we all experience, and bring about a great harvest in due time! Keep being a blessing—or to paraphrase Dr. Seuss’s memorable line—“A blessing’s a blessing, no matter how small!” (BONUS POINTS for identifying where the quote came from!). — Pastor Jim