City of the Bees

I had a problem. It was April 2024. The weather was quite cold for the time of year and it was also rather damp. Result: the bees weren’t flying so nothing much was being pollinated. To my great relief, come mid June the weather turned warmer and the bees appeared. Patience had at last been rewarded, and a bumper runner bean crop finally and somewhat belatedly appeared. Without the bees, my anticipated crop would have been a total failure. Bees ensured that the very real threat of a crop disaster was removed: it was their timely and crucial intervention that saved the day.
 
This experience got me thinking back to the very early 1950s and Wimbledon Crusaders. I had joined Crusaders in February 1949, as I approached my ninth birthday, and I owe those Crusader leaders a great debt of gratitude for putting me on a path that led me to faith some years later. What on earth has Crusaders got to do with gardening and bees, you may well ask?! Well, the leaders had decided to arrange a social gathering at which they showed us some films produced by the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. The films were fascinating and enlightening and collectively were known as Fact and Faith films. The particular film that really grabbed my attention was the one titled “City of the Bees”. It was an incredible film and a remarkable demonstration of the wonders of cine photography. I sat there entranced as the narrator showed us pictures of an amazing city designed entirely by bees and run entirely by bees. This was evidence of an amazing creator God who had designed and created these tiny creatures called bees who, quite independently, had built a city from which they would emerge to provide life giving pollination. Without the assistance of bees, the human race would be fortunate to survive.
 
Our Bible contains many references to these fascinating creatures and, of course, to the honey they produce (e.g. Judges 14:8; Deut. 1: 44; Mark 1:6). The very many references to honey in both the Old and New Testaments imply that honey was a common and widespread food. It is likely that much of the honey was produced by wild bees (not living in hives or bee cities) but by bees nesting in hollow trees or in rocky holes: indeed, from very early times bees have been encouraged to occupy simple hives of basket or earthenware. Bees are the most fascinating and extraordinary creatures; they are all around us and there are many, many types of bee. Their presence on earth and in our lives can so easily be overlooked, but without bees we would be lost. We worship a truly amazing God! Bees set us an example that we would do well to follow.  Each bee has a specific role to perform within a team. There are gaps in our BRBC team. Could God be prompting you to fill a gap?
Robin Thomas