My Malachi 3:16 scripture above in the title part of this page, is the essence of this blog. It also is the center of my goals this year and is found several places in scripture. As I studied Isaiah and quoted Doctrine and Covenants 133:3 in my last blog, the footnote there is for Isaiah 52:10 that quotes that verse exactly. Then a verse or down is this quote of scripture about speaking often one to another:
"Call your solemn assemblies, and speak often one to another.
And let every man call upon the name of the Lord." --D & C 133:6
Jesus Christ is the author of these books of scripture and he is consistently the same, using the same language and the same key words. As the pre-mortal Jehovah, he taught his ancient prophets how to use words and other literary devices such as chiasm. These become a flag of divine authorship to us. He tells us "Great are the Word of Isaiah," because Isaiah was the very best. He earned the title among the ancient Hebrews as THE PROPHET. Isaiah uses types as one of these literary devices. A type foreshadows a person, event or thing that comes again. He uses the meaning of names to help us better understand what he is trying to say. I've used my maiden name initials here, BEE, to stand not only for myself in this blog, but as a type for what I see my mission in life being.
BEE in the Desert
In my childhood I was fascinated with bees and used the Native American symbol of a bee in my Camp Fire Girl headband that was made from beads. I always thought of myself as a busy bee. Later, as I became aware of the danger of bee stings, my thoughts about bees turned away from good things and I viewed bees as enemies. They could indeed sting me, leaving their stinger in me pulsating and injecting venom into my soft flesh. Luckily, I was not allergic to bee stings, no was I stung very often. The one or two times I can remember, I simply stepped on a bee and got stung.
When I joined the Church of Jesus Christ about the age of 21, my first calling was as a Beehive teacher in the Young Women organization of the church. This calling was very similar to what I was doing as a professional field director for the Camp Fire Girls at this time. Yes, my first job out of college hearkened back to my childhood in Camp Fire. (I worked again with this organization in 2002-4 at the other end of my life) It was amazing how the Law of Camp Fire paralleled the gospel. Not having been raised in the church, it was a very subtle yet strong influence on me at a very young age.
The funny thing about this Law of Camp Fire is that I never knew I was following anything. We just recited it each meeting. But the reality of it was that I have placed Worshiping God first. I majored in art thus did seek beauty. I've always worked for non-profit organizations and been oriented to giving service, even though as a child I didn't like going to nursing homes, or other service projects, but I did them; somehow I grew up doing this and now love to give service. I was the first in my family to receive a college degree, thus I did and still do pursue knowledge. I am and have always valued being trustworthy; I wanted to work in a bank and kept myself worthy to do that. I don't lie nor cheat. Hmmm there's a pattern here. I do hold tenaciously to health. I love to work and always give full value to an employer, but more than that I have a strong work ethic in anything that I pursue. And Last but not least you will always find me smiling. I am indeed a happy person, upbeat and positive. Well, most of the time.
When I got a little older and began to enjoy symbols in scripture and church history, I found that the beehive is the symbol of Latter-day Saint society and organization.
QUOTE: "The Latter-day Saints, ever settling and ever on the move, adopted the bee symbol from the beginning. It caught their imagination, and they saw in it exactly what the ancients did, the example of a society in which "men lived together like bees," of the authority and order by which they were ruled, and of the industry and organization with which they gathered the sweets of the field and enhanced their growth: in the State of Deseret, "our lovely Deseret," the beehive symbol was everywhere."
When I taught the Beehive girls (ages 12 to 14) later in life, I always showed them the various ways bee lore played a part in the life of early peoples. For example: the bee's wax made candles, "Let your light so shine" "Don't hide your light under a bushel," etc. The bee's honey was unique, too, I'd tell them about queen bee jelly and it's medicinal qualities, as well as the fact honey that coming from different sources tasted different (we'd taste some from orange blossoms, from sage,etc.), and so on.
In the 1980s I realized that Deborah, a prophetess in the bible, was also called Deborah the Bee. Here is were the symbolism of the bee as an image of war appears. Usually it was used in reference to a migration. Well, think about Noah when the ark landed, it was the bees that led the way to the land where flowers were blooming, indicating fruit and fertile land. This is why early migrating peoples carried bees with them in hives. They needed the sweetener to make bread rise, and so many other things to live an abundant life.
This is where I hope that my BEE in the Desert name may mean that I, too, might lead others to discover something that will bring fruit and I fly from one study to another and post my remarks on this blog. My current passion is Isaiah. He mentions bees, too. My next blog will probably give you more about Bee Symbolism than you ever wanted to know, but you might just think it's interesting and lead you into deeper studies of the scriptures, especially Isaiah.
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