I fancy myself as a keeper of bees. On any given sunny day, you may see me in my protective gear with veil heading to the bee yard to care for my hives. Inspecting the frames. Feeding the bees. Treating for mites. Putting on additional boxes. My duties vary depending on the season, but my goal is always the same. Keep the bees alive (if at all possible).
How could it be that difficult? Provide the bees with a comfortable home, protected from harm, and they will thrive. Right? That’s what I thought before I attended training classes as I contemplated becoming a keeper of bees.
But honeybees are a capricious and somewhat wayward lot as any experienced beekeeper will tell you. If the hive is too hot, too cold, or too damp, it causes them harm. They are subject to numerous pests and predators. Varrora mites. Hive beetles. Wax moths. Not to mention, raccoons and bear in the mountains. And, even if you protect your bees from harm, they still may decide to swarm and leave the abode you have so meticulously provided for them.
Given all these challenges, it’s a wonder anyone decides to be a keeper of bees.
Yet throwing off any illusions of grandeur, it is a noble endeavor. To be a good steward of the creation, means caring for the least of these—whether it’s a tiny insect or our next-door neighbor. Taking on the role of a keeper is a great responsibility. It’s not one for the faint-hearted but requires persistence and a dogged determination due to its inherent uncertainty. Success may evade you, even if you do everything right.
In He Should Have Told the Bees, a novel by Amanda Cox, Beckett Walsh bemoans this fact to Fern, her young apprentice, as they attend to their hives. She provided her bee colonies with the best of homes but still there was no guarantee they would stay or survive. Beckett tells Fern. “We let them fly free and do what they were made to do, resting in the knowledge that it is in the nature of bees to come back home if they can.”
A keeper of bees doesn’t control the nature of insects any more than they control the behavior of the human beings within their care. Determine to care for them anyway. Trust that the God of the universe who does control everything will guide and direct both bees and prodigals back home.
You can count on it.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely, he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psalm 91:1-4 NIV
*featured image courtesy of Canva
