The Beehive

"Whoa! Why the long face?" asked Bristol's dad as she came in the back door.Bristol frowned. "I was hoping to get a part in our youth pageant, but instead I have to make props. Carrie got picked for the lead." She saw that her dad was putting on his beekeeper's outfit and quickly changed the subject. "I want to go with you to the beehives!""Okay," Dad said, so Bristol quickly slipped into her own bee suit, and they went out to the hives.At the beehives, Bristol watched as Dad pulled a honeycomb from one of them. "Oh good!" he said. "There obviously are workers in this hive. I'm glad there aren't just queen bees here, aren't you?"Bristol was puzzled. "There's never more than one queen bee in a hive, Dad. You know that.""Yes, well, that's a good thing too. Queen bees don't make honey, and I like honey!" Dad checked each of the remaining hives and took out additional honeycombs. "As it is, you could say each hive is a self-sufficient super-organism."Bristol rolled her eyes. "English, Dad! You know I don't like talking scientifically."Dad chuckled. "How about biblically?""Biblically?" Bristol gave her dad a confused look as they walked toward the house.Dad nodded. "In the beehive, each bee needs to do its job so the whole thing works together efficiently. The bees can't all be drones. They can't all be worker bees either. And they can't all be queens. Each kind of bee is needed. It's that way in the church too--what the Bible calls the body of Christ. Jesus gives Christians different jobs to do so we can work together to share the gospel--the message of hope about what Jesus did to save us--with the world. Even in all the everyday things we do--schoolwork, chores, church service, or whatever--in everything, all kinds of workers are needed."Bristol sighed. "You're talking about our youth pageant, aren't you? You're saying the job of making props is just as important as the lead part, right?" Dad nodded. "By making props, you'll be doing your part to help share the love of Jesus with others.""Okay," Bristol said. "Then I'll be busy as a bee making props!" -Dolores A. Lemieux