To Bee or Not to Bee // Spoken Word Poetry

Last year, I went to a bee farm and it was quite a life-changing experience.

I've always been afraid of bees and their ability to incite harm. This fear was birthed from two traumatic experiences in my past.

As a young child, I was stung by a group of bees when I accidentally shook their home as I swung on a tire swing. Unbeknownst to me, several bees were living inside that tire and they were understandably very upset with me. They sought revenge by stinging me multiple times on both of my hands. I recall the sudden shock and pain that pierced through my body.

Then at age 12, a HUGE swarm of bees attacked our birthday party group when we accidentally bumped into their hive as we played in the woods. I remember all of us screaming and sprinting back home as the massive cluster of bees followed us, surrounded us, and attacked us. It was like a horror scene from a scary movie. I remember the sheer terror, loud sobbing, and the bright red ambulance roaring down the driveway to provide medical aid.

All my friends were stung multiple times. But strangely I was the only one spared this time - even though I was next to them every step of the way. Drowning in survivor guilt, I stood by helplessly watching as my friends cried out in pain. That scary experience further cemented my fear of bees.

Armed with a desire to confront and conquer my fears (literally and metaphorically) - I decided to visit a bee farm last Spring. To combat any unwarranted pride, it would be amiss not to mention that I was consoled and emboldened by the guarantee of protection in a beekeeping suit and the supervision of two professionals.

Nevertheless, I wanted to immerse myself in this once-in-a-lifetime experience of being surrounded by a swarm of bees (again!) but this time - I wanted to face them with courage and confidence, knowing that I would be protected from their stings.

I guess you could say it was a form of exposure therapy. More info here:
https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/pa...

As I went through this experience, some thoughts (involving fear, courage, life, death) began to trickle in. I'll call it "honey bee philosophy" :)

One thought: Our minds are so transiently inclined where we tend to focus on the "latest and greatest" attraction in front of us and then we move onto the next new thing. Now that Easter has passed with a two-week gap between us, is the message of the cross and resurrection just as relevant with reverence and exuberance?

What does life actually look like after Easter? Eastertide is the 50 day period between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday. I wanted to explore that further through this video. Hopefully it blesses you as well.

If you'd like to learn more about Eastertide, please feel free to read the Lent devotional that I wrote for Biola University:
https://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2016/#day...

-----

Written, edited, and recited by Grace Lee
Edited on Final Cut Pro

Bee Farm video footage: Grace Lee
Stock video/photo footage: Storyblocks and Canva

Music from Epidemic Sound:
"Waiting in the Dark" by Phoenix Tail
"Overcoming our Past" by Kikoru

#bee #bees #honeybee #honeybees #honeybeefarming #honey #honeycomb #easter #eastertide #ascension #goodfriday #lent #lentenreflections #holyweek #passionweek #jesus #jesuschrist #pray #prayer #disciples #discipleship #fear #death #life #shakespeare #hamlet #spokenword #spokenwordpoetry #poetry