The Bee

I was outside with my son just hanging out in our backyard when I spotted a bumble bee on the gravel. The bee was struggling to walk and seemed unable to fly away. It was a sad sight. After a few minutes, the bee was still in the same spot, but seemed to have given up the fight. I picked him up with a leaf and put him on a flower – a petunia that I didn’t plant but just popped up on an old flower bed container. He seemed hungry/thirsty, whatever it is that bumblebees are. The bee ate and ate, but after a while he fell to the ground below the flower. The bee shows no signs of flying away and I realized I may have just given just given a bee its final meal.

It makes me sad to think that I couldn’t do anything more. What do you do with an injured bumble bee? (I realize that sometimes a bee is just a bee, but this one was something more today.)

So where is God for this bee? Part of me wants to believe that harm = God doesn’t care. What I’ve been learning over the last few years though, is that God doesn’t abandon us even when we’re on the floor struggling to move. He is with us when we’re hurt, when we find ourselves shamed, abandoned, or jobless. He is with us and He cares and I am starting to learn that if we look for it, we can identify His presence. I’m learning that yes, God could save this bee… God could save us from whatever ailment or struggle we are facing, but “even if he doesn’t” (Daniel 3:18) it doesn’t change who He is.