Bees and Pigeons and the Holy Spirit

This is a post that I've been thinking about doing for a long time, so I thought that I'd work on it now, and maybe post it for a future date... kinda keep it in reserve until it seems just right.

And I guess now is "just right" as any time.

I mentioned that my daughter is getting baptized this weekend. I am really excited about that. Not only is she getting blessed and made a child of God in this sacred thing of our divine being, but we get to see some family, we'll have some cake... and did I mention that I get to baptize her?

(I'm a pastor, in case I haven't made that clear to the casual reader... all one of you.)

I get to perform the baptism, and its one of my favorite things to be used by the Holy Spirit in very real, and amazingly significant ways. And since God has promised us that baptism is always very real and always very significant... I'm pretty excited any time I get to baptize someone.

But even moreso this time.

So... "Bees and Pigeons", eh Matt?

Yes, yes, we're getting there.

While I was on vicarage (a year of internship for a lutheran pastor), one of the gentlemen in my congregation was a part-time beekeeper. He was really a handyman by trade, but after a few instances of removing honey-bees from people's attics and walls, he thought, "why not use these little buggers the right way?" and proceeded to become somewhat of a local expert. His work was sort of like the little red hen's - nobody really wanted to get too close and help out, but everyone LOVED the finished product! And the honey he sold was pretty darn good, let me tell you!

But I decided to be brave and go out with him to see the bees one day.

It was amazing!

I was so intrigued that the concept of beekeeping started to sound like something I'd consider doing... depending on where we wound up. (Since then I've figured that suburban Cleveland is not necessarily the best place to keep bees.)

Then, back at the seminary for our last year, some pigeons took up roost in our window ledges, and we had two nests that hatched sucessfully while we were there. Ben and I were constantly transfixed by the progress and growth of the little ones. (...and Caesar loved watching them, wishing that he could just get his claws through the window.)

When one of my good buddies was over one time, the pigeons were making a racket and he got to telling me how he'd raised homing pigeons as a kid through 4H. He and his dad had a coop out in the backyard, and it wasn't that difficult really at all. He'd never raced them, technically, but they certainly could fly.

Forget bees, I wanted to get some pigeons!

And thus part of the inspiration for the naming of this blog...

There's still a little part of me that wants to try having pigeons. Its sort of a mysterious desire to help propagate something really fun and cool! (In my eyes at least.)

But those days are yet to prove themselves as being nearby.

So instead I'm doing this - my other little "pigeon" project - as part of the mysterious desire to help propagate something really amazing and yet so simple...

Matthew 3:16-17
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

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