Bees and flimsy bridges.

Comparison:

. . . or do we try to build back some flimsy little bridge? Sometimes when we are alone, thoughts come swarming into our heads like bees—some of them destructive, ugly, self-defeating thoughts, some of them creative and glad. Which thoughts do we choose to think then, as much as we have the choice? Will we be brave today or a coward today?

Frederick Buechner ponders both the dynamics and the form of a deity speaking to each human: ". . . it is written out for each of us in the humdrum, helter-skelter events of each day;" when is the last time your mind combined a “flimsy little bridge“ and a swarm of destructive bees? For Buechner the combination was potent in helping understand the processes and results of human interaction with an interactive creator.

Context:

[Buechner notes that this quotation is from his book Secrets in the Dark.]

But he also speaks to us about ourselves, about what he wants us to do and what he wants us to become; and this is the area where I believe that we know so much more about him than we admit even to ourselves, where people hear God speak even if they do not believe in him. A face comes toward us down the street. Do we raise our eyes or do we keep them lowered, passing by in silence? Somebody says something about somebody else, and what he says happens to be not only cruel but also funny, and everybody laughs. Do we laugh too, or do we speak the truth? When a friend has hurt us, do we take pleasure in hating him, because hate has its pleasures as well as love, or do we try to build back some flimsy little bridge? Sometimes when we are alone, thoughts come swarming into our heads like bees—some of them destructive, ugly, self-defeating thoughts, some of them creative and glad. Which thoughts do we choose to think then, as much as we have the choice? Will we be brave today or a coward today? Not in some big way probably but in some little foolish way, yet brave still. Will we be honest today or a liar? Just some little pint-sized honesty, but honest still. Will we be a friend or cold as ice today

Citation:

Buechner, Frederick. FB Post, 20 May 2025. Web.

(Image design by Lee Aigue; base images courtesy of Bing, May 2025.)