The Saturday Journal: ONE LIFE
- tathelmillerwriter
- Mar 22
- 4 min read
The trees are full of flowering white and pink blooms–there’s a red-headed woodpecker at the bird feeder–a baby one. A cardinal comes and then another. On top of the clothesline perch two bluebirds–they never rest on the line. It’s always on the post–closer to the home.
Green grass sprouts are bursting out of the fallow dry winter ground. Robins take their rightful place in the field. There is this one tree–a cherry tree adorned with a million pink blossoms. And there’s this sound in the crisp morning air coming from the tree. I recognize the sound–honey bees drinking from the fountain–it’s the sound of spring.
I was in the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A a few days ago–a place I frequent often. You just can’t find a better sweet tea–anywhere! And there was a Jeep in front of me and on the black tire cover written in bold white letters was this–ONE LIFE. LIVE IT. The words–I gasped for breath and then grabbed my phone–typed the four words in my notes. Four words, simple as they may be–I didn’t want to forget them. I wanted the reminder to remember.
A few weekends ago, I was sitting in the audience at one of my granddaughter’s dance competitions and on stage was a group of dancers–smiling–moving–dancing to the rhythm of every song note–feeling the music in their very bones–living every word of the song. And this group of dancers–there were maybe ten girls and one, lone boy.
I saw the boy later–this young dancer in the lobby–he was all of twelve years old–maybe thirteen. He was standing at the vending machine, placing money in the slot. And I watched as this older lady–she walked up to him and said, ‘Young man, I enjoyed watching you dance. You danced wonderful!’
And he smiled and said thank you.
There’s this story in the book of Jeremiah about a king who had been in prison for thirty-seven years. And in this story was another man and in his first year as reigning king, he brought the man out of prison– and “set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.” (Jeremiah 52:32). And he gave him bread and food everyday “until the day of his death, all the days of his life” (Jeremiah 52:34).
But what I haven’t told you–in the story before this prisoner was seated on the throne among the others, before he changed from prison clothes to new garments–before the reigning king gave him food and bread to eat, the king did this. He “spake kindly unto him.” (Jeremiah 52:32).
My Daddy was always helping me with one thing or another–building, fixing, plowing, and one day while we were out in the field I announced my next big plan–my next “going to try” this thing. ‘Daddy, I think I am going to get a few honey bee hives.’ And I’ll never forget this–where we stood–-the sound of his voice–gentle, but firm, “I will help you with most anything you want to do–you know that, but I’m not messing with any bees. You are on your own with that.”
I laughed. And no, I don’t have any honey bee hives–maybe someday. But as I think back, if I had got honey bees way back then, my Daddy would have been right there–helping me, learning with me. That’s the way he was.
Did you know a honey bee colony has three groups of bees–the worker bees, one queen bee, and the drones. And the average lifespan for a drone is thirty days–the worker bees live five to seven weeks and the queen bee with the longest lifespan–she can live up to six years.
The days of a drone’s life–30 days–the worker bee–35 days to 49 days. That’s all–that’s it.
I visited the cherry tree again a few days later and the bees are still drinking the sweet nectar–the goodness of God. And I think back to the four words–ONE LIFE. LIVE IT. And these words, they don’t seem to be pointing back to me as much as before–about living "my" life–they seem to be pointing more to others–those I meet along the way–along my journey.
Like the worker bees and drones–they have ONE LIFE. Short lives. And they choose their ONE LIFE and LIVE IT according to their purpose–to serve others–to give others a better ONE LIFE.
She came close–closer than I expected. And this stranger in the supermarket, she asked, ‘Are you going to be spending $25 today?’ Yes–maybe, I answered her, reluctantly. Then she handed me this receipt–this coupon and said, ‘Here–use this and you can get $5.00 off.’ I thanked her for her kindness. She went on her way–greeting another shopper–giving away another coupon.
We have this ONE LIFE and we can LIVE IT. But the beauty of living this ONE LIFE is not in the living for self. It’s in the helping of others to live their ONE LIFE.
Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.
C.T. Studd
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