JP: Celosia Flowers and the Bees

One of the things that the Lord has blessed us with is a covered back patio surrounded by a beautiful flower garden with a pond. My favorite thing about it is that all of the flowers are perennials and come back on their own every year. (Note the phrase "on their own!")


A few days ago I was on the phone out on the patio when the Lord began to speak to me. Currently, we have beautiful Celosia flowers in bloom. They remind me of fireplace pokers glowing from the heat of the fire.

As I gazed nonchalantly at them the Lord reminded me that the closer a fireplace poker is to the fire or source of heat the hotter it gets. The same is true with believers. The more we place ourselves in His presence, the hotter or more intense we are for Him. Another benefit of fire is that it purifies. When precious metals are exposed to a heat source for an extended period, they become more pure. God is a fire that purifies. Therefore, the more we expose ourselves to Him, the more we are purified and our sinful desires are burned away.

God then focused my attention on the bees that were buzzing from plant to plant. There seemed to be about 20 bees or so. Not wanting to miss what God was wanting to teach me, I looked up pollination on the internet.

It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect pollination, most of which is accomplished by bees. That is one third of human life depends on the bees unwittingly pollinating. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the male parts of a flower to the female parts of a flower, which results in fertilization of plants and the production of seeds. Pollen is also a source of protein that they feed to their developing offspring. Bees don't even realize that they are carrying it. The pollen just falls of them after they land on the next flower.

Likewise, after placing ourselves in the presence of our beautiful Lord and Savior through worship and prayer, we unwittingly carry His presence and fire with us.
Pollination is a picture of the Heavenly Bridegroom King using His bride, the church, to deposit seeds into this lost world. We do this mostly by consistently seeking Him and living a lifestyle fully pleasing to Him. In other words, "walking the walk." And as our children see us do this, they are fed and grow in the Lord.

Just as a great deal of human lives depend on the pollination process, human lives depend on us being willing to plant seeds. Our job is to plant seeds and harvest. We're not responsible for it taking root. That's God's job. And honestly, some of the pollinating occurs from just living life. I refer to it as the ooze factor. Just walking the walk and looking for opportunities to ooze Jesus love onto people.

So, are you willing to be a bee?

----- Jeff