honey – Welcome to Serenity

Psalm 19:10

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.

Today is Valentine’s Day, the day that is known for love and lovers. Most people don’t know the history behind the day. It is the day associated with Saint Valentine, but who was he?

Saint Valentine lived in the third century and during the Roman Empire. According to historical records, the Emperor of Roman banned marriages thinking that single men made better soldiers. St. Valentine was arrested and found guilty of secretly performing weddings. During his time in jail waiting for his execution, St. Valentine converted jailers to Christianity and was asked by the head jailer to heal his daughter. St. Valentine started praying for the girl and after his execution, a letter was found written to the girl which was signed “your valentine”.

You may be asking “what does this have to do with the farm?” Well, in 496 AD St. Valentine was made the Patron Saint of Beekeepers. “Why?” you might ask. Well in many cultures, bees are symbolic of love and beekeepers symbolize the protection of love, marriage, and family. Beekeepers work to maintain the growth of the beehive, so the bee colony thrives. As the bee colony thrives new generations are born continuing the love and the family. The love flow is symbolized by honey which a strong colony can easily produce.

Throughout history, honeybees have been associated with love. In some cultures, a bride and groom walk through a honeybee swarm together and if one of the two is stung then the marriage must be meant to be. In many cultural myths, honey is used as a love potion and said to cause couples to fall in love.

Here on the farm, we have always known that our honeybees are special and work hard pollenating and producing honey. As a beekeeper, we love our bees and strive to protect them so that they can help us. We have seen through the years, the more we do to protect them and provide for them, the more honey that flows from the hives.

So, on this Valentine’s Day, show love with honey from the symbol of love and let the love flow as sweet as honey.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to our Serenity.

Psalm 19 NIV – Psalm 19:9-10

9 The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
and all of them are righteous.

¹⁰They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.

Being a beekeeper is a very interesting hobby for me. I am still a novice so I learn new things everyday. It fascinates me how some many bees can work in harmony for a common goal. There is no fighting among the bees or undercutting coworkers to get ahead. The goal is simple: survival. Every bee knows its job and does it for the betterment of the hive —to make HONEY!!

Making honey seems simple enough, but is it really? In order to make one pound of honey, it takes about 768 bees to fly over 55,000 miles and visit over 2 million flowers. One bee will only produce 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. That bee will visit 50 to 100 flowers in a single flight harvesting nectar for honey production. Seem simple now?

Honey is not only food for the bees, but it is also their medicine for diseases. It is 80% sugar and 20% water and is the only food that can completely sustain life. It does not spoil or ruin. It is so valuable that it has been used as currency and valued greater than gold.

Just this week, we harvested honey from one of the bee hives. While processing the honey, I started thinking about what all bees do to make this small amount of honey. It occurred to me that if our society could work together in harmony like the bees there would be nothing that we couldn’t do. But we are caught up in our own agendas and not the betterment of our society. We live in a “me” world, where everyone is focused on themselves. So we have people starving, homeless, and dying because of greed and corruption. God has shown us in the Bible and told us through his son that all we have to do is LOVE. Love is the greatest thing. It is part of every commandment and Jesus even said that Love was the greatest.

So why can’t we just love one another? It all goes back to a garden where sin was released on us.

Love is the honey for our lives. It is liquid gold, sweet sustaining food for life.

Starting today, let’s love one another and care for one another so that we can sustain life and happiness. For God gave us the way, all we have to do is following.

So from us to you, we extend love to you. Thank you for visiting and #welcome2serenity.

Check out our photo of the week that relates to this post.

Tag: honey

A Love as Sweet as Honey

Liquid Gold