Sunflower~A~Day 14

"You've been halfway living your life for too long . . .

when it's time to die, go ahead and die,

and when it's time to live, live.

Don't sort-of-maybe live, but live like you're going all out,

like you're not afraid."

~August Boatwright~

from The Secret Life of Bees

by

Sue Monk Kidd

It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink,

and to enjoy the good of all his labor

in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life

which God gives him;

for it is his heritage.

Ecclesiastes 5:18

Live like you mean it.

Now.

When life is good,

enjoy it.

Praise God.

When it is bad,

lean into God.

Praise God.

Gratitude for blessings.

Gratitude for His strength.

Sunflower~A~Day 12

an excerpt from The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd . . .

"Was your Big Mama the one who taught you to keep bees?"

August took off her glasses and cleaned them on the scarf at her waist.  "She taught me lots more about bees than just how to keep them.  She used to tell me one tall bee tale after another."

I perked up, "Tell me one," I said.

August thumped her finger on her forehead like she was trying to tap one of them off some back shelf in her head.  Then her eyes lit up, and she said, "Well, one time Big Mama told me she went out to the hives on Christmas Eve and heard the bees singing the words of the Christmas story right out of the gospel of Luke."  August started singing then in a humming sort of way, "Mary brought forth her firstborn child and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger.'"

I giggled.  "Do you think that really happened?"

"Well, yes and no," she said.  "Some things happen in a literal way, Lily.  And then other things, like this one, happen in a not-literal way, but they still happen.  Do you know what I mean?"

I didn't have a clue.  "Not really," I said.

"What I mean is that the bees weren't really singing the words from Luke, but still, if you have the right kind of ears, you can listen to a hive and hear the Christmas story somewhere inside yourself.  You can hear silent things on the other side of the everyday world that nobody else can.  Big Mama had those kind of ears . . . "

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 I get that.

I hear that.

This makes me feel like I'm not the only one.

Like hearing those things

is real

is good

is ok.

{I know.  This is just a fiction book.  But I relate.}

This is what I get:

God speaks my language.

He knows each individual language.

Deeper than English, Spanish, Japanese.

He know the language of my individual, unique, authentic heart.

Of your individual, unique, authentic heart.

And if I listen wholeheartedly

He will speak to me.

And if you listen wholeheartedly

He will speak to you.

In the core of your being.

I believe that.

That is when the words jump of the page in my Bible.

And that is when He is speaking to me

through birds, butterflies, stars, flowers, my kids . . .

on the pages of my journal and through paint and pictures . . .

{like August and the bees}.

*~*

That passage reminds me of this:

For since the creation of the world

His invisible attributes are clearly seen,

being understood by the things that are made,

even His eternal power and Godhead,

so that they are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

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Bees and Me

Bees. I read Bee & Me to Erin Grace before her nap as she colored her coloring page with a yellow marker. Everything yellow. Yellow because she wanted to use a marker and that is the only marker left that works. That is what happens when you are two years old and have not learned the importance of lids. And yet, how appropriate for her to be coloring everything yellow.

For the past year she will come to me and say, "Daw uh bee." And so as I have done many times, and places, I draw a bee and then we sing along with Laurie Berkner, "Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, a buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz-a-buzz, oh bumblebee, can't you see it's just you and me." For trick-or-treating she was, of course, a bumblebee.

Last spring, I was making the 60-mile drive home from Sturgis, when Erin began making this indescribable screeching noise again and again as she writhed beneath the straps of her car seat. "What is the matter, Erin?" I ask. To which she screeched a spine-tingling sound that I finally interpreted as "Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiings! Wings!!" Finally, she got her arms out from the captivity of the car seat and was at last at peace because her "wings" were free.

So, it is not a surprise that the movie "The Secret Life of Bees" spoke deeply to my heart, as did the novel that I promptly ordered and then the author Sue Monk Kidd's website and book When The Heart Waits, but then that is to be another blog. . .

Anyway, Erin received Bee & Me for Christmas. As I read the little bee tell about how misunderstood bees are and how much more purpose they have than making honey, I felt a flicker in my heart telling me to pay attention. One page is vibrant full of lush flowers and vegetation and the next page is barren, gray, lonely. As I read the little children's book, I was overcome with awe for God. Awe for a Creator that put so much significance in the role of one little type of insect. A bee--so much purpose and significance in the role of a bee.

And I hear a small voice inside my being saying, "How much more significance do I put into the life of a person--of you--of one created in My image? Do you think it is by chance that a bee does what it does? Do you think a bee evolved with purpose and significance or do you think that it was created with intention and purpose? What does it say to you as you look at what a bee does?"

Just as a bee does what a bee does for such a time as this, so a person is created, is formed for such a time as this. In this time, in this place with intention, significance and purpose. Bees pollinate. They scatter life. They are life-giving instruments. Creating lush beauty and vibrancy of life in glorious vegetation. By doing what they were made to do. Do you think a bee knows what effect it has on the world around it? Even without being aware, it just does what it does and leaves a trail of sweetness and color---a trail of life.

As women, we are life-givers. How much more does He have intention and purpose for the individual woman. As part of the display of His image--we are life-givers as we bear life and as we nurture life. Yes, it encompasses motherhood, but also extends as we nurture the hearts of others doing what we were made to do.

I believe our uniqueness as individuals is given with intention and significance. To be who we were made to be because no other person can be that or fulfill that role. I believe this in the core of me, not just as sentimental gush, but in a way that has an impact to my life--that resonates with truth deep within me. Mary Engelbreit has a card that says, "Be yourself. No one else is qualified." Each one is significant. Is vital. Is life-giving. Is adding life, color and vibrancy to this place and to this time to these people. Right here. Right now. For such a time as this. . .

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life...Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:25, 26

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Genesis 1:27

"For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise. . .from another place. . . Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14

"Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you..." 2 Timothy 1:6

copyright 2010 Jodene (Jodi) Shaw (photos and writing).