Bella Vista Church of Christ
LIFELINES
April 17, 2002 Jeff Jartett
They Work Their Wings Off
When my family and I lived in East Tennessee, we were acquainted with a man who took up bee keeping as a hobby. The last time I spoke to him, he had about a dozen half-sized hives. He also had an observation hive. It was a box approximately two feet square, framed in wood, with honeycomb enclosed between glass panels. He kept a queen and a small swarm of bees in this hive. On occasion, he would close the hive with the bees in it and take it to school to teach children about honeybees. I have spent hours merely watching those bees work.
On one occasion, as I was watching the observation hive, the owner asked me if I knew how to tell a bee's age. Of course I did not. He said that a bee's age is determined by the condition of its wings. Because bees constantly work, their wings get a lot of wear and tear. The young bees have wide, well formed wings, whereas the older ones have narrow, torn and tattered wings. The bee does not die of "old age." It dies when its wings are completely worn out and it can no longer work or fly. Near the point of death, the bee points itself away from the hive and begins to fly, never to return again. Imagine that! The bee literally wears itself out working!
There is a lesson in this for the child of God. Remember Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 1.2-3: "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father."
Jeff Jartett
