Grampa took Mary Ellen inside away from the crowd. "Now, child, I am going to show you what my father showed me, and his father before him," he said quietly.
He spooned the honey onto the cover of one of her books. "Taste," he said, almost in a whisper.
Mary Ellen savored the honey on her book.
"There is such sweetness inside of that book too!" he said thoughtfully. "Such things... adventure, knowledge and wisdom. But these things do not come easily. You have to pursue them. Just like we ran after the bees to find their tree, so you must also chase these things through the pages of a book!".- excerpt from The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco
In a nutshell, the plot of the story is thus: the main character, Mary Ellen, is tired of reading and wants to do something "fun", so her grandfather takes her on a wild goose chase following honey bees back to their tree. They encounter new friends, learn lessons, and in the end, the analogy of the sweetness of knowledge and learning.
As I read through this story and come upon the above scene where Mary Ellen is asked to taste the sweetness of her books, I am vividly reminded of a professor who would kiss the front of his Bible before we pulled it out to do our reading for the day. Truth be told, I have done that as well, especially in times when I needed a physical reminder of the power of Scripture. So often in our indoctrinated society that is numb to Christ, it is a powerful practice to treasure the Word of God.
Is God's Word sweet to you?
Or is one of several versions of books gathering dust of your shelf?
Is it alive and breathing and warm and vibrant?
What are you pursing?
"There is such sweetness inside of that book... but such things do not come easily. You have to pursue them."
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