“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me” – Jeremiah 29:13

 

Birds singing, cars humming and people chit-chatting cheerfully with each other while click-clacking down the sidewalk were just a few of the morning sounds I enjoyed the other day while sitting outside at a table near a drive-through coffee shop.  I was ready to start my usual routine of the day when I passed by the shop and thought it would be good to take a few moments to stop and smell the roses or in my case the toasted-orange tulips before heading on with my day.

I was pleased to be making this conscious effort as taking time to “smell the roses” (or tulips) is one of the many necessary life-lessons I’ve been reminded of lately.  I assumed my lesson for the day was simply the fact that I had made this choice but apparently there was more to it.  

As I enjoyed the lively ambiance of the morning I happened to glance over my right shoulder and noticed a lovely bushel of orange-tulips which were fresh, full and down-right gorgeous. I observed them with great delight for a bit and thought to myself how I would have missed seeing the pretty flowers had I not stopped.  I assumed the lesson for the day was also in the flowers but apparently there was more to it. 

When I turned my head back toward the table, I found a healthy sized bumble bee positioned about an inch away from my arm.  It looked like Mr. Bee was exploring the spot beneath him with his legs and was heading my way.  My natural reaction would normally be to shoo the pest away but I found myself just a little curious as to what this critter was up to especially because there was absolutely nothing on the table that could have been of interest or value to him.  

As I observed Mr. Bee I immediately noticed how he moved his legs at a furious pace, searching, searching, searching…but for what?  

Now I’m not a bee expert but what I do know is that bees use their legs to comb the pollen they’ve collect down and pack it in little pollen baskets on their legs so they can carry more pollen later.  It didn’t seem to me however that Mr. Bee was busy pushing down pollen he’d already collected, it seemed more like he was scanning, touching, and feeling everything on the table with his hairy little legs in hopes of finding the pollen mother lode.

I got to thinking. How bees need flowers for pollen right, so what was this guy doing looking for it on a clean white table?  I glanced over at the bursting bushel of orange flowers just to my right then back to the bee, who was still busy scanning the table. I looked again at the flowers then back again to the bee before saying, Uuuh, God, why doesn’t this bee realize that what he’s looking for is right in front of him?

Okay, maybe I get a little too deep at times because that bee very well could have been parked on my table just long enough to push down pollen that I couldn’t see with his tiny legs.  However I do believe at that moment God used Mr. Bee to reveal a very real truth.   The bee appeared to be frantically searching for something what was right in front of him all along but he just couldn’t see it.  Sound familiar?

All too often we find ourselves frantically searching for answers to our questions, problems, concerns, trials and challenges.  Searching, searching, searching and we can’t see that the answer is right in front of us.

Like it or not, we are very much like that bee, hoping on tables (seeking other things) that provide nothing for us when what we really need is to seek God wholeheartedly about those things that concern us. 

While the bee may or may not have been wasting his time on the table it is never a waste of time when we seek God for answers because He promises in His Word that when we will find Him.

 

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