By Kenneth Rindeikis
An individual is outside working in the yard on a beautiful Rhode Island spring day. The temperature is above 30 degrees and the opportunity to enjoy the sun is there as it filters in and out of the scattered cloud cover. Last thing this person expected is to be stung by a flying little visitor. This bee apparently came down from the sky, approached ground cover level, focused his attention on this awaiting contact, and then made a direct impact. This bee had a specific attitude. A ‘bee attitude’.
Granted, I don’t have the insight to know the mindset of the local insect population, but I wonder if in some ways we could obtain this same sort of thinking a bee may have. So I came up with four general areas of our attitudes that we could possibly mimic off this specific bee.
The first ‘bee’ attitude is to ‘be’ there. This bee came down from somewhere that wasn’t here. His hope was, I’m sure, to return from whence he came. Could it be possible that in this so called busy and hectic world we live in that our minds are often cluttered with so many finite details that we don’t spend a lot of time ‘thinking’ about where our lives will be one day when we leave this earth? Those that have given their life to the Lord Jesus Christ should have not just their heart and treasures in Heaven, but even their attitude influenced by it, as well. That is where our home is. As we live here, we need to ‘be there’.
That brings us to the second ‘bee’ attitude which is to ‘be’ here. This bee came down to earth to mingle with the human population. It had a mission. Richard Bach was quoted as saying, ‘Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t.’ We as Christians are given a specific mission and that is to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though our heart is in Heaven our body is still on earth and we need to use this opportunity that God grants us. It’s true that we have many secular things to deal with here, and that’s okay. We shouldn’t be so caught up in these ‘secular’ things that we begin to draw our hearts away from Heaven. We’re here on earth for a reason. We’re to live a life of Christ and mingle with the human population.
This bee knew who he was. He did not struggle with his identity. He had no desire to be a dragonfly or moth. We should learn from that and embrace the third attitude this bee had and that is to ‘be’ you. God has given each of us our own identity and abilities. We don’t have to struggle to become like someone else in order to feel we can be used of God. It’s great to follow someone else’s example, but don’t try to be their clone and fade out the talents that you alone may have.
That last bee attitude is to ‘be’ right. It’s great to be good, but it’s important to be right. Being right is to follow a tangible truth that is found in the Word of God. Jesus Christ said that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It’s important to remember that ‘good’ people don’t go to Heaven. Those that have given their life to Christ do. The death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord….that is the gospel that should be proclaimed to the world. That is the hope that the lost are searching for. It is right. God is good, and He is, but that is not the ‘gospel’. When the true gospel is preached, like the sting from the bee, it will make a direct impact on the world.
