Of Bumblebees and Gratitude

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your faithful shall bless you….
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.
Psalm 145:10, 21

I tend to notice bumblebees. They tend to be slow and take their time meandering from one flower to another. I tend to be slow and take my time meandering from one flower to another as I water them. So, I usually see the bumblebees. I also notice how the flowering plants come and go from spring to summer to autumn so that there is always something blooming from which the bumblebees can feed. I delight in how nature works that way and am humored by how pollen clings so heavily to the bumblebees that I wonder how they can fly!

As I read Psalm 145 I find myself wondering too about how the bumblebees thank God. I can honestly say that I really had not considered that question before now. Yet, the psalmist claims that all of God’s works shall give thanks so that must include the bumblebees. Maybe it’s something expressed by their buzzing. Maybe it’s how they just be as bees without worrying about anything. Maybe it’s in how they delight God in a way not so different in how they delight me.

It seems to me as it does this psalmist that gratitude is essential to who we are. As creatures we recognize our reliance and dependence on our Creator. In reality there is no more a self-made person than there is a self-made bumblebee. We simply cannot make it on our own. We belong to and depend on an intricate web of life created and sustained by God. When we can acknowledge that we can then appreciate it. And, then we realize the essentialness of gratitude.

So I am going to continue to attempt to make gratitude a habit—a practice I choose each day. Hopefully, it will stick like pollen to a bumblebee! And, hopefully, my gratitude expressed the best way I know how will delight God and bless God’s name forever. I invite you to do the same. Say thanks to God and practice gratitude in the best way you know how. I assure you God will be delighted!