On Bee-ing Tethered

In college, me and three friends lived in a little, old, two-story home. We lovingly named it “The Turtle”, because the top half was green, and the bottom half was white. Obviously, just like a turtle.

So, one summer day in this Turtle house, we found a giant bumblebee buzzing around. And like any college-age girls would react, we screamed, ran outside, and hurled our distress to our guy neighbors. We needed rescue. 

Our neighbors were pretty chill and easy going, so they didn’t match our degree of emotion but were willing to help. One requested we get him a cup and a piece of paper. Confused but compliant, we provided the materials.

Hero neighbor came over and took the cup, trapping the bee inside and against the wall. He used the paper to slide under the cup and safely transported the bee out of the house. 

But hero neighbor didn’t set the bee free. He put him in his freezer.

Once the bee stopped buzzing, he took the frozen little insect in hand and tied a string around him. He brought the bee outside, tied the other end of the string to the grill no one was using, and waited. We all waited.

Within minutes the bee warmed up, woke up, and started buzzing again. 

But this time he was tethered to a grill. We watched in shock and laughter as he buzzed around in a circle, his only range of flight within the sphere of the string he was tethered to. 

Thus became The Legacy of the Bee.

And, I think, an example of our spiritual lives.

Like the lost bee in my college Turtle home, we buzz around, lost in a world that’s not our true home. We can survive for some time, but we’re trapped in a space that offers no long term life. So we need rescue. While we may not spend time chilling into paralysis inside a freezer, Jesus comes to get us and transfers us to a new home. We get wrapped up in his presence. Secured. And tethered to our Savior. The great King. 

Our only range of existence remains within the sphere of His presence.

This. Matters.

So often, we wrestle with questions:
What if I miss the plans God has for me?
What if I sin too much and lose my salvation?
How do I know God hasn’t forgotten about me?

Scripture rubs against our perception of reality and our faith gets tested. We try locking into the spiritual disciplines we know are important but can’t seem to nail down. We struggle to find meaning in the routine that’s turned mundane. We know what scripture says, but we can’t will ourselves to obey it. We feel close to God at church but disconnected all week…

Whatever the circumstance, it becomes easy to focus on ourselves and think about all the things we need to do and fix. But sometimes I think God just wants to remind us – we are already tethered. 

Yes, move forward in obedience where God is leading. And no, don’t do things he’s clearly called us out of.

And also. When his voice seems faint, Scripture seems shallow, prayer seems dull, spiritual fruit seems completely out of reach… know. You are bound. You are secure in your placement as a child of God. You are part of his family.

And you aren’t getting away.

While the story of a bee may be a ridiculous analogy, it’s something tangible we can visualize. And if we can consider something tangible, we might grow in confidence of understanding our position in Christ. 

In Colossians, Paul describes how we have been rescued “from the domain of darkness and transferred (us) to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

And in this redemption, we are adopted. We are welcomed into the family of God, treated as a son, guaranteed an inheritance, and sealed with the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). Like a bee that has no hands or ability to untie a string from his body, we also have no strength or ability to escape a kingdom we didn’t bring ourselves into, to undo an adoption we didn’t rule.

Now sadly, my personal story offers no closure for anyone concerned about the bee. I have no idea what came of him. But I do know that what has been promised for us as believers is guaranteed to come true. Because the promise was made by holy God, faithful to fulfill everything he has said. His authority and power trump all else, so when he says nothing can snatch us out of his hand, we can fly in freedom of knowing the tethering of our string will never fail.

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