Recently, I found a most wonderful book among my husband’s possessions. It was given to him by his literature-loving and poetry-writing grandmother before she passed away in the 1970’s. It is called Elbert Hubbard’s Scrap Book, printed in 1923. It is a collection of stories and poems that Mr. Hubbard had collected throughout his life. Today I discovered this sweet, amazing, and inspiring story which was written by Victor Hugo. From this story alone, we can see that he had an unusual view on life. From everyday events, he saw something higher, something to be learned. Perhaps he saw life as a love letter of messages from God our Father. I hope that you enjoy it.
Providence – An Apologue
By Victor Hugo
The other evening I was a little late in going down to dinner, and this was the reason: I noticed a number of dead bees lying on the floor of the lookout where I am accustomed to work – a sight that I encounter every spring. The poor things had come in through the open window. When the windows were closed they found themselves prisoners. Unable to see the transparent obstacle, they had hurled themselves against the glass panes on all sides, east, north, south and west, until at last they fell to the floor exhausted, and died. But, yesterday, I noticed among the bees, a great drone, much stronger than the bees, who was far from being dead, who, in fact, was very much alive and was dashing himself against the panes with all his might, like the great beast that he was. “Ah! My fine friend,” said I, “it would have been an evil day for you had I not come to the rescue. You would have been done for, my fine fellow; before nightfall you would be lying dead, and on coming up-stairs, in the evening with my lamp, I would have found your poor little corpse among those of the other bees.” Come, now, like the Emperor Titus I shall mark the day by a good deed: let us save the insect’s life. Perhaps in the eyes of God a drone is as valuable as a man, and without any doubt it is more valuable than a prince.
I threw open the window, and, by means of a napkin, began chasing the insect toward it; but the drone persisted in flying in the opposite direction. I then tried to capture it by throwing the napkin over it. When the drone saw that I wished to capture it, it lost its head completely; it bounded furiously against the glass panes, as though it would smash them, took a fresh start, and dashed itself again and again against the glass. Finally it flew the whole length of the apartment, maddened and desperate. “Ah, you tyrant!” it buzzed, “Despot! You would deprive me of liberty! Cruel executioner, why do you not leave me alone? I am happy, and why do you persecute me?”
After trying very hard, I brought it down and, in seizing it with the napkin, I involuntarily hurt it. Oh, how it tried to avenge itself! It darted out its sting; its little nervous body, contracted by my fingers, strained itself with all its strength in an attempt to sting me. But I ignored its protestations, and, stretching my hand out the window, opened the napkin. For a moment the drone seemed stunned, astonished; then it calmly took flight out into the infinite.
Well, you see how I saved the drone. I was its Providence. But (and here is the moral of my story) do we not, stupid drones that we are, conduct ourselves in the same manner toward the providence of God? We have our petty and absurd projects, our small and narrow views, our rash designs, whose accomplishment is either impossible or injurious to ourselves. Seeing no farther than our noses and with our eyes fixed on our immediate aim, we plunge ahead in our blind infatuation, like madmen. We would succeed, we would triumph; that is to say, we would break our heads against an invisible obstacle.
And when God, who sees all and who wishes to save us, upsets our designs, we stupidly complain against Him, we accuse His Providence. We do not comprehend that in punishing us, in overturning our plans and causing us suffering, He is doing all this to deliver us, to open the Infinite to us.
My comment: Wow. Amen. If he can see God’s plan for our lives through an incident with bees, what else is there to see about our life here on Earth?! Every day is an adventure with God at the helm. 🙂
Apples of Gold 