Bees and the Spirituality of Imperfect

stewardship of the land as spiritual practice

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May is a hectic month for me in the garden. Beautiful days, not too hot, yet the soil is warming up, making it the best time to plant and transplant.

I'm working hard to turn our property into a native plant, pollinator, and wildlife refuge.

Since I spend most days outdoors digging, planting, pruning, weeding, and building rock walls with all the rocks I unearthed, I have yet to finish the post I am working on.

But since May 20th is National Bee Day, I decided to share an article I wrote for GodSpaceLight.com in 2018.

I've updated it and rewritten it for greater clarity. I think you will enjoy it, and you can see how my writing style and focus have both evolved and remained the same.

This month's theme, the Spirituality of Imperfect, triggered some discomfort around the prospect of writing about "the imperfect" parts of life, self, and spirituality. 

Then there was the curious notion of imperfect actually being spiritual. It could be like the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, a worldview centered on accepting transience and imperfection.

Today is also "honey bee awareness day," somehow, honey bees and the Spirituality of Imperfect needed to be brought together and produce a pearl of spiritual insight. 

There's a reason we need to have honey bee awareness day. It's because bees are in trouble. They're dying from many interrelated causes, and we are responsible for the two most destructive factors, pesticides, and habitat loss. How we live on this planet is highly imperfect when balancing our short-term needs (and wants) and making ecologically sound decisions that support the natural world and humanity's long-term needs, such as sustainable and reliable food sources. Seventy out of the top one hundred human food crops are pollinated by bees. These crops supply about ninety percent of the world's nutrition. So the loss of bees is not only a tragedy, but it also puts our survival at risk.

Bee on Milkweed in my garden

A Spirituality of Imperfect brings to mind the triple graces, forgiveness, restoration, and unity. These three powerful energies can work on behalf of imperfection to create something beautiful. Since my own spirituality will always be imperfect, that's reassuring. 

Something imperfect is generally considered blemished, marred, tainted, stained, broken, bent, twisted, ruined, or lacking. Imperfect is always what my own spirituality will be in and of itself. However, when grafted into the True Vine, my spiritual life will have infinitely more love and goodness for being permanently united to the Perfect Source. 

That union allows forgiveness and restoration to be graciously and abundantly poured into my soul. I am still imperfect, but now I can access what is perfect. 

These three remedies of forgiveness, restoration, and unity inspire me to see my imperfect spirituality as forgiven, restored, and united with the Divine. In fact, it's my own imperfect spiritual ways that create the unique need for a spirituality of imperfect and allows for the experience of grace, applied in such a way as to make room for imperfect, to become part of my very imperfect human life. 

But what about the bees? Here's where having a spirituality of imperfect allows for practical, positive, forward movement in my life. 

This video from 2017 shares some of my expereinces creating pollinator and bee habitat.

Can’t see the video? Click HERE

We bought a beautiful piece of property to build a house on eight years ago. Someplace to live is a legitimate need, yet the destruction necessary to clear the land, blast the ledge, and level a hill was enormous. It's imperfect to have to cause such devastation to build a home. In this imperfect situation, I needed to ask forgiveness for the destruction and offer gratitude for the land. That's what we human beings have been doing for millennia. In fact, it is the basis for most religious systems going back into the mists of time. Our ancestors felt compelled to offer gratitude for the animals and plants that provided them with their basic needs and ask forgiveness for having to take the lives of animals and plants to live. Ceremonies, temples, altars, and rituals around this theme are common in the spiritual lives of our ancestors across the globe. We must eat, have clothing and shelter, and other living beings must be killed to provide that for us. That seems an imperfect way of existing. A spirituality of imperfect requires a spirituality of grace to make it work. 

After our home was built and I had a chance to assess the property in its state of shock and trauma from the destruction of being cleared, I entered into a sacred contract of restoration and unity with the land. As restoration and unity had been poured into my soul, I would pour restoration and unity into my land. 

Bee in a wild rose

It was then I committed to replanting my land for pollinators, especially bees, precisely because of the dangers they face today. Native plants and trees were planted in abundance. Shrubs and perennials as nectar sources were chosen and sited in appealing locations for the bees. Of course, not only the bees benefited; many other pollinators, butterflies, moths, birds, and animals have formed a robust, healthy, unified community on our land. The unity of the community includes me. I feel so much like a part of the land and its trees, bees, birds, and animals. That sense of unity extends further into the Divine Life that sustains us all. While wandering through my gardens and woods, I experience that unity in deep and restorative ways.

The imperfect met by the grace of forgiveness, restoration, and unity, and a spirituality of imperfect embraced by a spirituality of grace has the power to move me through the imperfections in life and in my soul to an understanding that sees a greater plan of love and healing at work. 

Bee on wild yarrow

Happy National Bee Day!

Do you love bees too? Let's keep building the Hedge Mystic Community and share stories in the comments about bees, gardens, wildlife encounters, and anything else that celebrates the divine connection we experience in nature, however imperfect. 

Thank you for being here and reading Hedge Mystic; you are loved and appreciated.