I'm Glad It Was a Bee Sting

A couple of days ago I decided to trim back some bushes in the front yard.  Things are getting overgrown and I want to make space for some new plants.  I stepped up to the 3rd bush of the day and I heard the familiar buzzing.  I looked around and then looked down.  As I spotted the big, fat bee he got me, and got me good.  I screamed, then ran.  I went into the house where my dear daughter promptly got me an ice pack.  Oh did it hurt!  The last time I was stung was 12 years ago, I was pregnant at the time with our 3rd child, and it was December-go figure.

Anyway, I went back outside (yes I am a glutton for punishment) and headed over to the scene of the crime.   As I peered closer to the big thorny bush I noticed a humungous (yes-humungous) nest.  I didn't think it was a bee nest but it was a bee that stung me --- so bee it (lol).  Does a bee sting make one punchy?  Maybe so.

Here is a pic of said nest:

So, my husband comes to look at it and says this is a mud wasp nest.  Mud Wasp?  omg!  (as the 3 year old next door likes to say).  So, lets get this straight, I am clipping away at a bush-innocently I might add-and a bee stings me.  If the bee had not stung me I would have bothered a nest of wasps.  Gasp!  Yes, it is big, No I did not see it, but there were a lot of branches in the way-really, there were and it was getting late-not the brightest part of the day.  I could've been eaten alive by wasps-many wasps.  So, I thank the lone bee that stung me, or should I say warned me, and kept me from multiple wasp stings.  

I have become philosophical in the last 10 years or so, looking at reasons for things and how to apply them to other areas of my life.  How many times do we get hurt, physically or emotionally etc...and wonder why?  Could it be it is to keep something worse from happening?  G-d is the great orchestrator and we are partners with Him.  Things go hand in hand.  

Here is another quick story that may help convince you.

We were expecting baby #4 and knew we needed an addition on the house.  This addition was going on during a drought.  Do you already see where I am going with this?  Yes, of course it rained.  And it rained the night the roof was partly exposed.  Due to our best efforts to cover the exposed roofline with a tarp we woke up to floors that squished when walked upon. The ceiling almost fell in on the baby (BH she was fine) and did fall in on the ginnie pig cage-(BH she survived).  We sucked water out of our carpets for 3 days-no exaggeration.  So much for the drought.   During the following week an electrician came and stood, looking stunned, at our wiring in the wall behind our bed.  He asked me if I smelled any smoke-ever.  I said no.  He said there was a small fire in the wall right behind our bed, it was bad-singed wires, blackened...house could've----well, he was shocked we didn't smell anything.  The contractor just stared at it as well.  What put it out before it got out of hand?  The rain.  

Bee stings and soaked carpets all of a sudden don't sound too bad!

In retrospect all of the things that happen in our lives add up and help make us the person we are today. Its not always easy, its a process, but with faith and some hind sight we can see the silver lining around the cloud!