Bounty

 October 30, 2023

The bounty of our earthly home simply astounds me. I am a terrible gardener, but when I drive past a roadside stand, I see squash, apples, and pumpkins in abundance, ready for sale. Tomatoes and peppers can still be found, while the sweet corn and green beans are for the most part gone. If I had to depend on my horticultural skills to keep us fed, Linda and I would be a lot skinnier than we currently are.

On our shelves in the basement are rows of applesauce and tomatoes Linda has canned; the freezer is filled with corn and beans, and now the honey and grape juice fills the house with a heavenly aroma. People ask me if I make the honey; I respond, “No; the bees make it. I only steal it.” 

The intricacy of the honeycomb fascinates me, as does so much of bee behavior. In her lifetime, a honeybee produces no more than a teaspoon of honey, and yet my hives yielded about ten gallons, not including that which I took the other day from my Kenyan long hive. They are all buttoned down for winter, and I will wait anxiously for spring, hoping they survive and thrive for another year. In the book of Proverbs, we are told to look to the ant:

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; 

consider its ways and be wise! 

It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 

yet it stores its provisions in summer 

and gathers its food at harvest. 

How long will you lie there, you sluggard? 

When will you get up from your sleep? 

A little sleep, a little slumber, 

a little folding of the hands to rest— 

and poverty will come on you like a thief 

and scarcity like an armed man.”

—Proverbs 6:6-11 

I’ve often wondered why Solomon chose the ant instead of the bee, which to me, would have been a more logical and interesting choice. The lesson is the same however, and the bounty we enjoy is not our own doing, except to care and cultivate what he causes to spring forth. God commanded the earth to bring forth abundantly (Genesis 1:11-12), and it has been doing so ever since. At this time of the year, we reap and enjoy that bounty, for which I am thankful tonight.