Honey from the Hard Thing

A little over a week ago, Timmy got a huge batch of bees

out of a stone bench.

Wanting to replace the hive of bees he'd lost in the blizzard last winter,

he had advertised on Craig's List.

Then someone called who wanted bees removed from the front porch area of a house they were in charge of.

Jonathan and Timmy went to look at the situation and discovered that the bees had made a home in the hollow part of this stone bench. It would take a lot of work to get the stone seat off and get down to the bees, but Jonathan, Timmy, the owners and the couple in charge of selling the house
 worked out a plan.  Jonathan would take the bench apart and then put it back together in order for Timmy to remove the bees.

Timmy has studied a lot about bees, calls his uncle to ask questions, and has worked with bees a lot already with the hives we've had.

He has a smoker that he uses to calm the bees.

So here Sam is placing more pine needles in this smoker and dropping a match in to light them, and then it will smoke.

Then he pumps the little bellows and the smoke comes out and it kind of makes the bees sleepy so they don't get mad and sting.

After jacking up the stone seat and removing it, Jonathan sawed through the plywood.

Of course, there were thousands of bees, but what a surprise!

There was layer after layer of honey!

At least three tiers of honey--wild, delicious honey!

Jonathan sent home a text with a picture.

Timmy scooped and scooped hundreds and thousands of bees into his hive that day.

The rest of our family had to go to town for Aunt Irina's birthday that day and stopped by later where Timmy and Sam were working.

We all helped in one way or another as we tried to clean up and gather as many bees and as much honey as we could.

Of course, much of the honey just went back to the bees, as Timmy felt much of it was not that good for eating, but the bees would remake it into clean honey in their new hive. 

A few of us got stings, but we were careful and some of us stayed quite a ways back. 

Timmy has the only bee jacket we have, and it is his project, so he did the work.

You wouldn't have known there was all that honey under that stone bench.

All the owner and we knew was that there were a bunch of pesky bees that they did not want there.

And sometimes all we know is that there are all these pesky problems that we wish were not in our lives.

Ignoring problems does not usually make them go away, although I have to admit that sometimes ignoring them is the best answer when there is no other answer.

However, 

when you truly go to the trouble to resolve them,

you will often find honey there, too,

for your reward.

Ignored relationship issues are like these pesky bees greeting you every time you go in the front door.

Resolved issues--whether through reconciliation with offended others or wisely letting go of issues that are out of your control--are like a spoonful of honey on the bread of life.

Be strong, be courageous! For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Trust that some kind of honey will come from every hard thing you go through.