Sticking Points

by Chris Koellhoffer, IHM    October 27, 2024

Several seasons ago, I wrote about one of the bumblebee neighbors who cultivated a little garden alongside me as we worked in the early hours of dawn. I observed my industrious friend dive deep into petals, linger for a bit, and emerge blanketed with a sheen of gold dust. Eventually the bumblebee flew towards home, wearing her rich golden treasure like a mantle. What stuck to her, what she carried back to her hive, served as food and feast and blessing for the future of her apiary world.

Lately, I’ve been sitting with the image of the bumblebee and what stuck to her. Because of her, I became deeply aware that whatever I put into my garden might be converted into food to be carried away to the bumblebee community. I took care to avoid any harmful chemicals, any weed killers, anything that might inadvertently stick to her and eventually become poison for the bees with whom she shared golden, life-giving pollen.

We are living in a most challenging time in every corner of our world, a world which can appear more broken than beautiful, although it is both. It’s a time when our tiny winged neighbors might offer us both a learning and a warning. Learning: That what we choose to consume changes us. That our diet of words, attitudes, images, news, worldviews ought to lean towards our wholeness and the well-being of all creation. Warning: That we would do well to avoid taking into ourselves whatever is mean-spirited, demeaning, cruel, or exclusionary. That we do not want to risk carrying any toxicity back to our “hive” and into the rest of our lives.

So we’re invited to reflect: Do we consciously include some element of beauty in the diet of our everyday living—poetry read aloud, inspiring music, art that uplifts? Do we cherish time spent in the natural world and protect, as much as possible, time given over to rest and renewal? Do we cultivate relationships that affirm and challenge and encourage? Is there space for silence and a reflective pause or two somewhere in our day? In all that we take in, are we feeding our better natures, the selves that long for a world marked by largeness of heart and movement towards the fullness of God’s dream of abundant life for all creation, no exceptions?

We hold the power to discern what is needed to be agents of healing, to be the presence of love in our time and place. By the grace of the Holy One, may all that we consume each day, all that sticks to us, all that we carry back to our local and global hives, always be food and feast and blessing for the common good. May it be so!

Takeaway
Sit in stillness with the Holy One.
Spend a few moments reflecting on what you’ve been consuming and taking in today.
Have you been fed in ways that support, inspire, and encourage you? If so, how?
If not, what steps might you take to move towards a diet that will uplift your spirit and move you towards greater wholeness?
Hold in tenderness and prayer the well-being of our beautiful yet wounded world.

Featured Image:    József Szabó, Unsplash

NOTE:
Please hold me in your prayer as I spend an autumn weekend of silence at Linwood Spiritual Center in Rhinebeck, NY. After a summer that was unusually full of retreat ministry, I’m feeling the need to rest, reflect, and be restored, and am grateful for the privilege of this time. I’ll be remembering you and all your loved ones as we celebrate All Saints, All Souls, and el Día de los Muertos.

To automatically subscribe to receive new posts from Mining the Now: 
Go to the Home Page of Mining the Now (chriskoellhofferihm.org)*  In the left-hand column above the section marked “Archives,” you’ll see the words, “Subscribe to blog via email.” 

Enter your email address in the space provided and then click on “Subscribe” and follow any prompts. You’ll then be subscribed to automatically receive any future blog posts from Mining the Now. 

NOTE: If you are trying to subscribe while using a mobile phone, you may have to take another step. As you look at the blog post, there should be 3 horizontal lines at the top right of the page. Click on these lines and you’ll be taken to what’s on the left hand column (on a laptop or PC). Scroll down and follow the directions at * above.

Thank you for following!