People Pollination

If you’ve been fortunate to be outside at all these sunny days, you’ve probably noticed a bee or two buzzing about.  While they’re busy collecting pollen and nectar for their colony, they’re also picking up a little bit here and dropping a little bit there—a process we call pollination.  And thank God for it!  One in every three bites we eat can somehow be attributed to bees.  Watching the bees and pondering these amazing creatures has me thinking… we do the same thing!  We are people-pollinators.

Sure, it’s not necessary for us to cross-pollinate plants to ensure food on the farmhouse table.  But we are social creatures, created with the necessity for community.  Our very presence in what we do and where we go influences others, and all the while we are collecting pieces along the journey and taking it all back our hive… er, home.

What are you picking up?  Surely, you know the adage of “You are what you eat,” or the less-than-ladylike one of “What goes in, has gotta come out!”  What’s true of nutrition is also faithful in regards to what we feed our souls.  The best representation of what we are holding in our hearts is what comes out of our mouths.  We need only to listen to ourselves for an honest impression of what we’ve internalized.

My heart breaks for young people today.  I have said regretful things, and remember the hurtful things said to me.  Now, technology has changed the game.  Though our harsh words were always written on the victim’s heart, social media has made them public… and undeletable.  As the world congregates digitally, our consumption of worldliness and the damage of loose lips (fingertips?) is seemingly inevitable.

The new world of celebrity Bloggers, YouTube sensations, and Insta-Stars are now paid “influencers” by every sort of company imaginable.  What are they influencing?  The better question may be who they are influencing.  I recently heard somewhere that for approximately every $1 a business spends paying an influencer, there is a $6 return on that investment.  Obviously, business is booming and consumers—you and I—are scrolling, clicking, and acting accordingly.  But what are we actually buying?  Are we just innocently sampling coconut waters and the latest status-symbol sandals?  Or are we buying into the world?… That what we have–our career, our clothes, our car, even our children–is what gives our lives value.  Remember, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” (Matthew 6:21).

Let’s put down the phones, close the screens, and focus.  Throughout each day, is what we are taking in good, holy, and true?  Listen to yourself…. Is what comes from your mouth good, holy, and true?  There’s only one solution to remedy a society “under the influence”: Jesus.

Go to Him in prayer.  Go to Him in the Word.  Go to Him in worship.  Go to Him in communion.

In a world full of influencers, I pray there be more impactors.  Touch, mobilize, drive others toward Joy, Hope, Contentment, and Peace.  “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things,” (Philippians 4:8).  Let us reveal our hearts to others, where our treasure–Jesus–dwells, as evidenced by our actions and words that honor Him.

No one is an island.  We were made for and live amongst community.  We are people-pollinators, constantly taking in and leaving something behind.

May we remember one more adage: “Leave everything a little better than you found it.”

God bless,

Neena

 

 

*Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Author: Neena

Neena is a Kentucky wife, mother, and beekeeper. Her first novel, THE BIRD AND THE BEES, is a Christian contemporary romance available now. Visit her at wordslikehoney.com.

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