One of my adult bucket list wishes came true this week!
When I was growing up we had three huge lilac bushes that grew on the side of our house, and every spring when we would open the windows the scent of the blossoms would permeate the house. Even to this day that scent memory evokes a positive, nostalgic reaction in me. I would sit in the chair near the closest window and just soak in the smell. My parents no longer own that house, but as I have grown I have missed getting to have that experience of the lilacs in spring, so one of my desires as a young adult was to get a house and plant lilacs so that when they were in full bloom I could enjoy them again.
Several years ago my friend and neighbor Heather got me a lilac bush for my birthday, as I had once shared my childhood memory with her. As you can imagine I was MORE than excited, and my husband (who has the green thumb!) planted it for me near our back deck. Now, this lilac bush has been steadily growing for years and even had flowers on it, but THIS was the first year those flowers were mature and full enough to produce the scent I had remembered so vividly as a child. On Tuesday we opened up the house, and as I’ve been working from home at my kitchen table, I was able to fully enjoy them. How cool is that?
However, there is an unintended side effect of having these beautiful flowers…BEES. Specifically, the large, monstrous bumble bee variety. They are attracted as well to the scent and color of the foliage, and are constantly buzzing around the bush! I’m sure the bees don’t see themselves as interlopers, but I certainly see them as a threat to my safety!
I was reminded of a parable while I was watching Curtis try to shoo away the bumbler before reentering the house (as I was yelling at him, “Don’t you dare open that door and let the bee in with you!”) The first comes from Matthew 13:31 which says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds, but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
I was remembering, that when you have something that bears fruit (in this case flowers!) that look attractive, smell attractive, and are good for food (for insects, that is!) others will see the benefits of what you have and be drawn to it. Though I may have a slightly irrational fear of bees, they are GOOD pollinators, and if I allow them some access to my lilacs they will carry that pollen to other plants, and many people’s gardens will thrive because of it. However, if I selfishly keep my lilacs to myself, I may enjoy them but no one else benefits.
People around us NEED the sweet-smelling fragrance of a life submitted and devoted to Christ. We should be neither surprised or stingy when it comes to others benefiting from what is being grown and developed in us. At the same time, we too get to reap the benefits of the beauty and splendor of the gifts of God for our lives. Embrace the bees and butterflies who come to nest in the shelter of the tree that God is producing in your life and learn to LOVE them.