La Miel de Melissa

While I reserve the right to change it again (because I can,) you may have noticed I changed the name of my blog. Here's why.

As you see above, "Melissa" means "honeybee" in Greek. I've always liked my name but never really thought its meaning had much significance. But lately I have been thinking about what it means to be a honeybee. Here's some of what I've found/figured out:

Honey (Miel) is amazing stuff. It never spoils. It is produced by bees sipping nectar from flowers and then partially digesting it (yeah, I know--gross) and then storing it in honeycombs. What happens next is amazing. Honeybees fan their wings across the unsealed honeycomb creating a strong draft that evaporates some of the water in the honey. This is what keeps the honey from spoiling. It then has the perfect pH levels and sugar/water ratio to prevent bacteria from being able to grow in it. That's why honey was at times used as an antibiotic. If you put it on a wound, it will keep bacteria from growing. It also has lots of good stuff in it that plain sugar doesn't have (antioxidants and good bacteria and stuff like that.) And it's yummy!

In case you didn't know, I'm a talker by nature (and nurture. Thanks, Mom.) and I've realized that the words I say (and the things I do, and the blogs I create) are the honey I produce. Like bees, I have to work hard to refine and concentrate my words. You have no idea how much I delete because it's watering down what I'm trying to say. And like honey, the flavor of what comes out of my heart will be determined by what I am feeding my heart. Am I feasting on God's Word and being filled with His Spirit or am I indulging in the pleasures and entertainment of the world's buffet to satisfy my flesh? The more I choose the latter, the more my honey will become like Mad Honey--poisonous.

Now about the mysterious bee shortage our country is facing... Until a few days ago I didn't think there was any connection, but maybe there is. I wonder how many other Christians are called to be honeybees? I think we all--to whatever extent God give us words--are called to share our faith and our lives and our Jesus with the starving world around us. But far too often, we are missing. I am missing. I go to Mikaela's school and talk with other moms, but how often do I truly offer Jesus to them? I hope that they see Him in me. I pray that they do and that when they discover that they are actually hungry and not being satisfied with anything else that they will know I have the sweetest honey in the world to share with them. But how much more should I be offering instead of waiting for them to ask? I'm not sure, but as the school year is rapidly passing I hope I am not left at the end wondering if I missed my chance. Will you pray for me that God will give me the courage to share what He's given me? May we all be so filled up with Jesus that when people taste who we are, they taste Him.