Raise Up a Cub
Train up a child in the way he should go. Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)
I am sure there were many times when my parents/grandparents wanted to give up on me! I had a somewhat wild spirit within me and they never knew what to expect. Many times, I told them what I had done and they would not believe me. Today, there is another kind of adventuresome Spirit inside of me. They did their best as teachers—all of them. Ben Cooper (All God’s Creatures) has a thought-provoking message for us.
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Managing my beehives requires knowledge. The available information about honeybees is always changing. I need ongoing educational updates regarding new threats, diseases, and predators. There are known threats too. I happen to live in an area with a high black bear population. I have had bears attack my bee yard, but I realize they are part of the ecosystem. Managing multiple species increases my need to understand about more than just bees.
Honeybees are well adapted for communication, and passing on information to the next generation is crucial since a bee lives only six weeks during the peak active season. They have a short window to teach young sister bees.
In contrast, black bears take up to sixteen months to teach their cubs. Mama bear teaches them what to eat and how to survive winter hibernations. Cubs are born during hibernation and stay with Mama over their second winter. The sow engages with her young to improve their foraging skills and behavior so they have a better chance of surviving the cold winter. Mama bear spends much of her time training her young cubs.
As parents of five now-adult children, my wife and I have done our best to mature our children to adulthood. Bees, bears, and humans aren’t all that different. We each teach our young how to survive a world of threats and predators. My wife and I want our children to thrive rather than just survive. Our family teaching methods include a spiritual component to prepare them for an eternal life in heaven. I am sure my lessons and examples are not sufficient. Thankfully, my children have a better teacher than me—the Holy Spirit, who is far more capable of instructing them in the way they should go.
Heavenly Father, thank You for being our Father and showing us how to live. Inspire and guide us in the teaching of children around us so that they may know Your love. AMEN.