Psalms 118:12

They compassed me about like bees.

Like bees

I know the bees can compass one about right well; but, as a rule, they compass about those who threaten to attack their home and to take away their little treasure. Let us think about a few things connected with the bee’s life.

1. Bees build their own house, and a beautiful house it is. The skill of the bees in building is wonderful. Every little room built by them has six sides; but all the rooms are not of the same size. They are made according to their requirements; but they are all so beautifully planned and partitioned that every room is just big enough for its purpose. There are no end of little nurseries, store-rooms, and ordinary living-rooms in a beehive. The bees’ house is a wonderful house; we could not build anything like it. Then, having built the house--

2. They are very busy in filling their larders. I know there are some drones. You never found a community anywhere without drones, and the poor bees are not perfect; but the bulk of them are very busy workers. There are, for instance, many wax-makers--those who produce wax and thus make up cells and construct walls. They also store the honey. Then there are the nurse-bees: such tender little creatures! They seem to tread softer and move about more quietly than the other bees. They see to all the sick, and to all the little children that are in the house, and feed, nurse, and watch over them.

3. They also reserve food for the winter. They fill a cell with honey and then seal it up, very much as your mother does with the preserve, when having filled a galley pot she puts a sheet of white paper on the top and seals it. Some of you boys wish it were not so well sealed. I have no doubt some little bees occasionally wish some of the cells were open; but they must not open them. They are not opened until the winter comes, and there is urgent need of food. Then older bees open those little cells just as your mother does the preserve pot, then they take just what is needed. Thus, there is such careful preparation for winter, that the bees can live right through until the spring comes back again, when they are able to begin to work and provide once more. Well now, could not we imitate the bees, could not we be active, and be ever doing our part? And even if we are put on the defence, can we not show strong characters, and let people learn that because we deal in honey we are not necessarily helpless? (D. Davies.)

Lessons from the bees

I. Loyalty. They all love their queen. She is their ruler and their mother, and they are her subjects and her children. Without her, home would be nothing. She is queen, and must be obeyed.

II. Loving the home. Bees are very much attached to their hive. No mother of a family loves her home more than a queen bee; and all the true worker bees take after their mother in this respect. Some people have a genius for helping; there are others who seem to have a genius for hindering.

III. Cleanliness. The care with which they remove dirt of all kinds is something remarkable. Every boy and girl may well follow the example of these wise little philosophers, the bees, and keep everything clean in their homes.

IV. Sympathy. I have seen a wounded bee carried at length, and laid on the bee-board in the warm sunshine. One bee would lick the sufferer from head to foot with his tongue, another would roll him over and over in the sunshine. After they had succeeded in doing this, they would carry him to his sick-bed. This shows us the sympathy of the bee, and sympathy is the most divine thing in the world.

V. Being happy in one’s work. “Place yourselves,” says one who has written on this subject, “before a hive, and see the indefatigable industry of its busy toilers. Let the bee’s hum inspire you with the honourable resolution to do all things cheerfully in the active duties of life. We ought to be happy and cheerful in our work.” (R. Newton, D. D.)