Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

— 1 Corinthians 13:4

Over the years, so much has been written about beekeeping that it can be easy to be distracted by details and lose sight of the “big picture.” With bees, it’s primarily about maintaining the hive, a living superorganism. Rev. L. L. Langstroth, who invented the movable frame hive (1852), recommended listening to the “hum” of the hive for inspiration. A quick internet search shows that lots of beekeepers compare the hum of the hive to a symphony.What makes the hive a harmonious home for bees? We might like to think that bees survive and thrive by way of virtues, but they just follow the wonderful instincts God provided when he created them.In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we can see that the community life of Christ-followers is, sadly, not always loving and harmonious. In fact, sometimes the church is far from that ideal. A whole other dynamic is necessary for a community to become wholesome. Living by the virtues we find in 1 Corinthians 13 requires that we selflessly love one another.The inspired text of 1 Corinthians 13 reflects the self-giving love of God, in whose image Christ-followers are being recreated. In Christ, we can be part of a body in which all “have equal concern for each other” (12:25). The one body of Christ is the community in which each member lovingly works to build up and care for one another in the Lord, the one and only Savior.

Lord, thank you for being the way to faith, hope, and love. Grow us to become mature in you as each part of your body does its work. Amen.