372. How doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour and gather honey all day from every opening flower. ~Isaac Watts

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Hum

What is this dark hum among the roses?
The bees have gone simple, sipping,
that’s all. What did you expect? Sophistication?
They’re small creatures and they are
filling their bodies with sweetness, how could they not
moan in happiness? The little
worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.
Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand
that life is a blessing. I have found them-haven’t you?—
stopped in the very cups of the flowers, their wings
a little tattered-so much flying about, to the hive,
then out into the world, then back, and perhaps dancing,
should the task be to be a scout-sweet, dancing bee.
I think there isn’t anything in this world I don’t
admire. If there is, I don’t know what it is. I
haven’t met it yet. Nor expect to. The bee is small,
and since I wear glasses, so I can see the traffic and
read books, I have to
take them off and bend close to study and
understand what is happening. It’s not hard, it’s in fact
as instructive as anything I have ever studied. Plus, too,
it’s love almost too fierce to endure, the bee
nuzzling like that into the blouse
of the rose. And the fragrance, and the honey, and of course
the sun, the purely pure sun, shining, all the while, over
all of us.

~Mary Oliver

How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! ~Psalm 119:103  ✝

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you save, you heal, you restore, and you reveal Your Father’s heart to us! You have captured me with grace and I’m caught in Your infinite embrace!

22 thoughts on “372. How doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour and gather honey all day from every opening flower. ~Isaac Watts”

  2. Pingback: 372. How doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour and gather honey all day from every opening flower. ~Isaac Watts | Sacred Touches

  7. You should have asked me Natalie, I could have sent you a bee in a rose picture for your post. 😦 I have a couple. A lovely piece of prose. I’ve seen a few ragged winged bees and the poor things get dumped out of the hive when they expire. Talk to you soon my dear.
    Cheers
    Laurence.

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    • Well, Laurence, if I’d known you had some I’d have asked. I had only one with a bee on it and I decided it wasn’t good enough. I can’t believe I haven’t shot more roses with bees. Oh well, I’ll have to make a point of doing that this year. Thanks for your offer. I love hearing from you any time, dear Laurence, my sage of Australia. Hugs and cheers, Natalie 🙂

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      • That’s okay, just holler if you need something and I’ll see what I have. You’ll just have to get out there while there’s pollen to gather. 🙂 You’re sweet Natalie, it’s nicer to know one is wanted.
        Cheers
        Laurence
        After having a crowned tooth replaced, not feeling very sage like.

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  9. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
    Natalie,Dear,couldn’t have found a better reply to your well-thought post … Psalms enclose all the wisdom of life and we thoughtfully sip their nectar … Beautiful your rose,most appealing to the hard working bees !!! Love and blessings , Doda 🙂 xxx

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