This morning I read a quote from historian Charles Beard who said this stunning little statement:
The bee fertilizes the flower it robs.
Perhaps others consider a better meaning, but I think about the bee stealing from the flower who, in that very action, fosters eventual growth and well-being in that gentle flower.
I think of our lives: I consider all those harmful sad things and those experiences or people we feel have been robbed from us. I think of those experiences as a stealing that fertilized the soil of my heart to create the conditions for God to do His most incredible work.
How can one live this triumphantly?
I think of Joseph–robbed of family and freedom and comfort–who proclaims in Genesis 50:20: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
How absolutely glorious that a man can say that! How wonderful to live a life where we know God intends our hardships for good–a fertilizing in the stealing–to accomplish His purposes that go far beyond our small lives.
Or, think about the theological truth so often quoted in Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
When a stinging agent comes against me to steal anything, I see it as fertilizer.