Sweeter Than Honey

Posted by Karen on Sep 7, 2011 | 0 comments

Ever since I can remember, I have been drawn to—and delighted by—the sweeter things in the cupboard. (Mom did have a cookie jar on the counter, but it was usually filled with Blue Chip stamps.) Of course, there were sweet things in the refrigerator, things that were perishable. But the cupboard housed something that was seemingly imperishable: a little plastic bear full of honey.

According to the National Honey Board, the 60,000 or so bees in a beehive may collectively travel as much as 55,000 miles and visit more than two million flowers to gather enough nectar to make just a pound of honey! This makes honey precious, and is precisely why its health-giving sweetness is prized so highly.

Of the five basic tastes, sweetness has the highest taste recognition threshold. Also, sweetness intensity is indicative of energy density. This same recognition of intensity and life-giving energy is reflected in the Psalmist’s declarations: the laws of God “are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb,” and: “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

Just like the little bear containing the imperishable, energizing honey, “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Cor 4:7).