Spring is in the air ... I can hear the dull drone of a worker honey bee; see, there she is - hovering and settling down a brief while upon the subtle-fresh-pink petals of the apple blossom or, irresistibly enticed by the sugary-sweet nectar, crawling into the inner recesses of a foxglove or the cone of a bluebell’s bowing head, hidden quietly in the shade.
These restfully-busy creatures are intent upon one thing only: to collect the pollen and nectar needed for the well-being and prosperity of the hive.
Brushing against the pollen-covered anthers of the plants, inadvertently collecting that precious powdery dust and carrying it with them, from flower to flower, they so happen to be about one of nature’s most vital tasks – uniting male cells (within the pollen) and female parts (the ovules within the pistils at the centre of the plant) to bring about a fertilised seed – what genius - the beginnings of a new plant.
It is claimed Albert Einstein said, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man would have only four years to live". Whether he did say this and whether he is overstating a fact I don’t know. Let’s just say, bees play a crucial role in the cross-pollination of much of our plant life.
I think it is fair to say that these busy honey bees have a conscious and unconscious task, one intentional, the other quite unintentional.
We Christians set about our daily lives, to live, to work and hopefully to pray - to God. This is our conscious task. Sometimes we evangelise, again a conscious act. But what is it we unconsciously achieve? Like the honey bee, this is usually quite unknown to us. God’s designs arch high above the smallness of our human desires and plans.
Earlier this week I was discussing with some friends what heaven must be like. I said that perhaps one of the greatest pleasures of that place will be that we are blissfully conscious of the fruit of our lives - not what we can see now but what has actually been achieved by the laying down of our lives, by our daily surrender to Jesus Christ. For many it will be shocking – brilliantly so. But now we are unaware of perhaps the greatest tasks God has given us – like the humble honey bee.
See my blog 'Nothing Big, Perhaps Not' (18/1/12) for an example of what I mean.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Revelation 21: 1.
Underland: this is a new experience. I mean, you step off the plane (I'm from the UK) and everything is, well, different, a new world. No, let’s rephrase that. You keep seeing things that are ‘like' something you’ve seen before but not like them.
You turn your head and point, ‘Hey, there’s some wagtails’ but they’re bigger than ours and have different markings; and here’s some kookaburras, they're rather like kingfishers but larger and quite another colour … different. The sky, the southern sky – it’s the same but different - above my head a massive canopy, dotted with stars I have never, ever seen before. And the sea, there’s the familiar, rolling waves and roaring drone but .. it’s different: turquoise-blue and clear. And those birds, the Galahs … they’ve got the head of a parrot and the body of a pigeon. Well, I’m blowed. It’s a different world, the same - but different.
You know, it’s going to be a little like this on the New Earth: the same but different – but markedly more so.
And yet, here, in Underland, there are things that are just as different as can be. I mean, I’ve never, ever seen anything similar to that lopping, jumping, comical creature, the kangaroo, who sits on its hind legs endlessly munching - grass, I suppose. They’re fascinating, absolutely. And, I reckon, on the New Earth there’ll be those strange, strange creatures and entities that are quite unlike anything we have ever seen. I mean, think of the living creatures in Revelation, covered with eyes, back and front and with six wings: “The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle (Revelations 4:7). And what about the sea in front of the throne which looks like a sea of glass, clear as crystal (Revelations 4:6).
I enjoy the word ‘like.’ It doesn’t mean quite the same as ‘identical’. We could talk, too, about Ezekiel’s strange and wonderful, unearthly visions of those burning, celestial beings, the cherubim, with four faces each whose awesome task it to propel the throne of God (Ezekiel 1: 4-27).
The New Earth, that’s something to look forward to. I reckon it will be the same but different, but then we’ll encounter other things, totally unknown, unrecognisable, unheard of. I’m looking forward to it, I really am.
