"It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted."— Mary O'Connor
All mosquitoes must have water in which to complete their life cycle. This water can range in quality from melted snow water to sewage effluent and it can be in any container imaginable. They lay their eggs in places such as tree holes that periodically hold water, tide water pools in salt marshes, sewage effluent ponds, irrigated pastures, rainwater ponds, etc. Each species therefore has unique environmental requirements for the maintenance of its life cycle.
Only the adult females bite man and other animals. The male mosquitoes feed only on plant juices. Some female mosquitoes prefer to feed on only one type of animal or they can feed on a variety of animals. Female mosquitoes feed on man, domesticated animals, such as cattle, horses, goats, etc; all types of birds including chickens; all types of wild animals including deer, rabbits; and they also feed on snakes, lizards, frogs, and toads. Most female mosquitoes have to feed on an animal and get a sufficient blood meal before she can develop eggs. If they do not get this blood meal, then they will die without laying viable eggs. However, some species of mosquitoes have developed the means to lay viable eggs without getting a blood meal.
Some mosquitoes attack during daylight hours and others at night. Some are painful and persistent biters and others are moderately aggressive biters. Some pass on diseases known as encephalitis (sleeping sickness) and malaria.
As you can clearly see the mosquito has no value. It is a worthless pesky insect that is only out to draw blood and pass on disease to those it comes in contact with. It doesn't think about the future. It does not work well with others. It is all about me, myself, and I. Sad to say but there are people like that who sit on the church pews. They can do nothing but complain, and bicker about everything. They have the preacher for breakfast, lunch and dinner and even midnight snack. Like the mosquito, these people are always in attack mode and their bite is painful and persistent, attacking day and night. Then they wonder why they are having problems in the home with their children and their marriage. They gossip about their brothers and sisters in the Lord. Never do they have a good word to say about anyone or anything. They are constantly out to draw blood with their biting hateful, hurtful words. They are not drinking from the fountain of living waters but drinking from waters that are polluted like the mosquitoes do. They are transmitting terrible diseases with their attitude as they themselves are dying a slow spiritual death.
One of the most familiar insects in the world is the Honeybee. While many species of insects consume nectar, honeybees refine and concentrate nectar to make honey. Indeed, they make lots of honey so they will have plenty of food for times when flower nectar is unavailable, such as winter. Unlike most insects, honeybees remain active through the winter, consuming and metabolizing honey in order to keep from freezing to death.
Honeybees have a bright color pattern to warn potential predators (or honey thieves!) that they have a weapon to defend themselves. Their weapon is a modified ovipositor (egg-laying tube). This is combined with a venom gland to create a stinger located at the end of the abdomen. Because the stinger is modified from a structure found only in females, male bees cannot sting. When the hive is threatened, honeybees will swarm out and attack with their stingers to drive the enemy away.
We too, have a weapon to defend ourselves to warn off potential predators, the WORD OF GOD. God's word is used to save souls however, when God's House or His people are threatened then the children of God can attack by going to prayer and using the Word of God to bring down His stinging power to drive away the enemy.
Honeybees are social insects. They work together in a highly structured social order. This is how the members of the church of God must work together. There is only one queen in a hive and her main purpose in life is to make more bees. Like the bee hive that has only one queen, we must remember there is only one God. "...He is Lord of Lords and King of kings." (Revelations 17:14) Just like the queen bee, His purpose is to give life. "I am come that they might have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10
Each bee has its place and purpose. Drones, since they are males, have no stinger. Their sole function is to mate with a new queen. Worker bees do all the different tasks needed to maintain and operate the hive. They make up the vast majority of the hive's occupants and they are all sterile females. When young, they are called house bees and work in the hive doing comb construction, brood rearing, tending the queen and drones, cleaning, temperature regulation and defending the hive. Older workers are called field bees. They forage outside the hive to gather nectar, pollen, water and certain sticky plant resins used in hive construction. House bees take the beeswax and form it with their mouths into the honeycomb. The cells within the comb are used to raise young and to store honey and pollen. Flower nectar is one of two food sources used by honeybees. The other is pollen. Both are gathered by the field bees as they fly about on their daily foraging flights.
In the church today you will find it is the same as it is in the bee hive. We all have a calling. Ephesians 4:11 reads; "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;". We also have those who are called to be the altar workers, prayer warriors, singers, musicians, bulletin board decorators, Sunday School teachers, church cleaners, and we are ALL called to be witnesses, Acts 1:8; "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." All of this is for the Glory and the Kingdom of God and the purpose of saving souls.
I guess my question is Are we busy bees or pesky mosquitoes? Are we busy about our Father's business or are we busybodies? Are we busy spreading the word of the Lord or are we busy spreading gossip? Are we building up the kingdom of God and our brothers and sisters or tearing them down? Are we busy gathering nectar for the hive (gathering souls for the kingdom of God) or are we just out to draw blood?
I want to be known as a Busy Bee for the Lord and not a pesky mosquito. Lord knows I do not want the hand of the Lord to come down and swat me. We must find our calling and do it well for the Lord. Let us be known as Busy Bees for the Kingdom of God!
A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is this glass of water?'
