What if we used the honey bee’s lifetime approach to Kingdom-building?
I saw an article in Southwest’s Spirit Magazine last month. Did you know a bee produces 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its entire life? Don’t concentrate on the fact that it only lives seven weeks, because during that time the bee races around…literally…traveling about 37,400 miles gathering the sweet stuff to make that 1/2 teaspoon. Talk about frequent flyer miles! That’s a lot of flying! On it’s own, that’s not a lot of honey, but when combined with the efforts of other bees…it’s mucho honey!
Here’s my point. What if all believers saw our role as a worker bee? Doing our small part. Not seeking glamor on our own. Staying the course. Working together. Being part of the bigger picture of making disciples of all nations. Not making our role seem an bigger than another, but just doing what we were assigned to do…
When you look at an individuals accomplishments…maybe not so impressive…but the collective efforts….
Wow, now that’s sweet! Sweet as honey!
What do you think?
Ron! I completely agree with your post. The book “Too Small to Ignore: Why the Least of These Matter Most” by ‘Wes Stafford’ from WaterBrook Press published in 2007 is great write-up on this subject.
Thanks Uma. Thanks for sharing the book.
I think another way of looking at this is, what I am stopping someone from doing because I feel like I have to do everything myself. There are some people who won't serve unless they are asked, and there are others who look at the current situation and say, "So one else is already doing that." As a leader It becomes very important to make sure you are helping people get plugged in and realize that sometimes the only way to make room for that is to ask others to cut back in some areas.
That's a good way to look at it. Thanks
Thank you Steve.
Good thought…the collective effort.
ABSOLUTELY!!!! The Bible tells us that we've ALLLL been given gifts by the Holy Spirit that the rest of the body needs. This is why I'm concerned when we pay a few people to do all the church work and let ourselves off the hook, and are content to be pew-sitters. I believe if we cut back on tithing to organizations & programs, & used those resources to be our part of the body… I wonder if we'd be more effective. Also if we spread-out the responsibilities of the church among all the members, we might not see as much church worker burnout, which seems common.
Totally agree Jesse. Thank you
I read a post similar to this, but way longer, a couple of months ago. If we each grow where we are planted instead of alway looking for the next great thing, or the next big church in our neighborhood, we will accomplish much more for Christ. As a community of believers grows together they grow stronger and add to each other greatly.
Thanks Ron
Well — unlike Charles I am going to agree with the biblical parallels to this idea. I think its an incredible idea. The point of the illustration is that we are all equally important in the overall purpose. There is an American elitism that likes to diminish the "worker" bees. We are one body, with Jesus the head. No one part of the body any more important then the other.
Good post Ron. I would love to see an American church leadership culture take on this mindset.
I'm going to post this comment to both Darrell and Charles, because I think both points are correct. Darrell captured my overall point. We are all in this together. No position is more important than another. I see what Charles is saying too. We are different from bees, in that we've been wired for creativity. We have freedom to invent, change, explore new ideas, etc. Bees have one task and that's it. Where it comes together again is in the concept of making disciples. While we have freedom to do that in different ways, and while every task is of equal importance, end the end, we make honey…or rather…make disciples of Jesus Christ…which of course, is really a work of the Holy Spirit with us as the "worker bees" to carry that process out… Good discussion.
Clearly, I am the only one among us who hasn't been assimilated into the Borg!
Ha!
I agree with you, Darrell, and I also see Charles' point: we all want to Do Great Things, but if they're the wrong things — because they're not what God called us to do — then we're not serving the Kingdom. I think the point is that, if we're doing what we're supposed to do, we need to be satisfied in our fleshly thinking with "only" producing that 0.81 tsp and trusting that others are doing the same. We also have to guard against shouldering burdens that are not ours.
Thanks Drew.
Quite honestly, I don't want to be assimilated into a hive. I'm not a worker bee. I have to think. And create. And strategize. And improve things.
I realize the point of the illustration–and it's a good point–but quite honestly, the filters come on pretty strongly with this one.
Sweet as honey indeed! That's a great amount of effort involved to produce such a small result, yet as a hive there is more than enough honey to go around. Thanks for sharing this great post Ron. I wonder what His kingdom's cause would look like here on earth if we each focused on doing our small part vs. looking for the big stage.
I think that I will be using this analogy during our team teaching time at our Team Leaders Meeting this Sunday night! I knew I clicked on this blog post for a reason 🙂
Awesome!