Sweeter Than Honey

Is God’s Word sweeter than honey? Carol Harrison believes so and uses Winnie the Pooh’s love of honey to get us thinking about our love for the Bible.

Stuffed Animals

A menagerie of stuffed animals lives at our house. Some of them sit on a shelf because they represent an event like a Special Olympics competition our daughter, Amee, attended. Others are meant to be cuddled at times or sit on the bed. A few have taken on the personalities we assigned to them as we let our imaginations play. I don’t think there’s an age limit to letting yourself have a bit of fun and who knows, they might prove useful to illustrations on life.

Fun With Stuffed Animals

I like to have some fun with stuffed animals. Sometimes they become part of an object lesson when I speak at camp. Several times Pooh Bear and Eeyore came with me to camp. These recognizable characters have personalities, given them by the original creator of the stories. Pooh Bear is nonchalant, upbeat, and thinks mostly about his love of honey. Anyone who knows these stories knows these attributes of a golden-yellow bear with his red shirt and round tummy.

Eeyore is the gloomy friend. His head is usually down and he complains about pretty much everything. Even his blue-grey colour is dull and drab unlike the fun, bright colour of his upbeat friend, Pooh Bear. His tail is pinned on and often gets lost. His personality is one that exudes discouragement, sadness, and self-pity.

Other characters in the story also have their own personalities. Tigger is known for his bounce. He acts first and thinks later, maybe. Owl exudes wisdom and decorum. Piglet is shy, stutters, and depends on others to help out. Their personalities affect how they each interact and also helps draw the reader, or watcher back to fun times in the 100 Acre Woods.  The creators did an excellent job in giving the animals personality.

Lessons to Learn

But there are lessons we can glean as we look at these characters too. I usually use them to talk about how our actions, words, and attitudes are showing others what’s inside us. Once those things are out in the world, we can’t undo them or unsay them. Anyone who is familiar with the Pooh Bear stories readily identifies the characteristics exhibited by the animals. They know which ones they like or don’t like and what might get the character into trouble like Tigger bouncing over Rabbit’s garden. 

Pooh Bear’s Love of Honey

Yet as I thought about the stories and lessons, Pooh Bear’s love of honey came back to my mind over and over again. He lives for finding his next jar of honey. He can’t get enough of the sweet treat. He’s defined by this love. What are we defined by?

Psalm 19: 9-11 says,

“The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward.”

Psalm 119: 103 says,

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

Psalm 119: 133 says,

“Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.”

James 1: 22 tells us,

“Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

Do we crave God’s Word like Pooh craves his honey pot? Do we spend time learning what God’s word tells us and then go and do it so our actions and words point others to Jesus? Are we rooted and grounded in the Word of God so we know the depth and breadth of His love and then do we share that with others?

Pooh Bear loves and values his honey. He lives to get his paws into the next jar of it. May we be like this with the Word of God.

Are you dealing with shattered pieces in your life? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.

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