Sweeter than Honey

I recently took Charis and Foster to see “The Bee Movie.” In it, Barry Bee tries to rid the world of injustice by putting a stop to all the stealing of honey. According to Barry, honey is made by the bees and belongs to the bees. Humans have no right to it. Don’t worry, though. I don’t want to give away the ending, but by the end of the movie, all is well. Both humankind and bee kind have come to an understanding. The bees keep making their honey, and are glad to share it with the rest of us.

I love honey. And after watching that movie, I had a craving for a big glob of it poured over a fresh, hot biscuit. Mmmmmm . . . my mouth waters just thinking about it.

I decided that as long as the kids were still thinking about honey, I’d try to do a little home-study. We went to the store to buy a big jar of it. For the kids. For educational purposes.

Believe it or not, honey is a diet-friendly alternative to sugar! Although it has a high calorie count, honey is processed differently by our bodies than white sugar. Processed sugar has already been . . . processed, and our bodies don’t have to do anything to it. So, it just sits there, or turns straight to fat, or whatever it does. Honey, on the other hand, has to be processed after it is in our bodies. So, eating honey burns more calories than eating sugar.

Honey is also an excellent antibiotic! According to some sources, honey applied to a wound will promote healing better than an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment. It also helps calm the body at night, promoting better sleep. A tablespoon given to children ages three and up at bedtime will soak up liquid in the body, thus aiding in the prevention of bed-wetting. Honey can serve as a cough suppressant, and even as a laxative! The benefits of honey are countless.

Honey does for our bodies what kind words can do for our spirits. Have you ever noticed how a well-placed, pleasant comment can add sunshine to even the cloudiest of days? Words filled with encouragement and compassion can calm the anxious person, uplift the depressed person, and soothe the angry person. Sweet words are like honey for the soul. The benefits are countless.

And, they are free. It costs us nothing to share the gift of a kind word, and the return on such a gift is beyond measure! When we offer gentle, thoughtful, benevolent speech to those around us, the goodwill we deliver will always come back to us many times over. Low cost. High return. You just can’t go wrong with that kind of investment.

As the kids and I stood in the grocery aisle, I felt a headache coming on. The kids had been sick the previous week, and I hadn’t slept much. I couldn’t find the honey, and I was getting a little grumpy. I just wanted to go home and pour that honey thickly over a flaky biscuit, maybe even stir some into my tea. That would help my headache.

Then, a man who could have been my grandfather walked by and smiled. “You’ve got a pretty little girl there,” he said, referring to my daughter. “She looks like her mama.” Talk about pouring it on thick! What a flirt! Funny, though. My headache was gone.

Proverbs 16:24 “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”