Hummingbird or Bumblebee Christians?
I have a little spot just outside my door where I go sometimes to read, pray, read my Bible, think. I designed it just for this purpose. One Sunday morning I was outside with my Bible and my sermon notes for the morning’s message, eating fresh peaches and drinking hot coffee. Sitting in the shade of a ten-foot Rose of Sharon, I would look up every once in a while and listen to the myriads of birds singing in the nearby trees. It was a beautiful, cool morning---one of those days where you automatically say “Thank You, God!”
Then I had two visitors, almost at the same time. Just to my left hangs a hummingbird feeder, and just to my right sat a flowering plant that I had just bought to set out in the flower bed on my next day off. A hummingbird flitted by, resting for a moment on the feeder, drinking deeply of the sweet water, before flitting away. A bumblebee buzzed past my head, stopping to rest on the flowers on my right.
And the thought occurred to me how much like some Christians those two creatures are. Some Christians flit from here to there, looking for the next thing which will prove sweet to their taste. As soon as they are satisfied with one thing, they immediately start looking elsewhere.
And then there are the bumblebee Christians. Experts tell us that the bumblebee’s body is not designed to fly, that it should not be able to fly, that as far as they can tell, it should be impossible for a bumblebee to fly. But someone forgot to tell the bumblebee. I’ve known some Christians like that, haven’t you? Those who see the obstacles and challenges in front of them, who hear the naysayers telling them that this thing can’t be done---and they do it anyway, because they have a big faith in an even greater God.
Oh, Lord, while I enjoy hummingbirds and praise you for the beauty and mystery of their little bodies, help me not to be like them in my spirit and walk with You. Help me instead to be like the bumblebee, quietly going about my business doing the work You have assigned to me.
--Rocky Henriques
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, May 21, 2007)
(c) 2007 by Rocky Henriques. All rights reserved. Contact
