Too Much Honey?
Posted: July 24, 2015
I was talking with a farmer the other day while we were watching the kids in gymnastics class. He was there for his grandchild and I was there with my son. We started talking about all the rain we’d been having.
While this is a common topic for situations like this, you know we all kind of listen with one ear sometimes. But something got through, and I had to stop him and say “Wait a minute, what was that you said?”
Now you have to understand, I’ve been a “City Boy” for most of my life. When my wife told me that if you chop the head off a chicken, it’ll run around in circles, it took me 15 years before I believed her.
Even though we live in the middle of a corn field (last year it was beans), I still don’t know much about it. Most of you probably know all this stuff, but it was all news to me.
I knew that a drought is bad for the crops. We went through that a couple years ago. But I didn’t know that too MUCH rain isn’t good for the crops either.
Apart from the obvious problems of getting into the field when planting, he pointed out that sometimes they have to plant twice. We didn’t have it quite as bad as some other areas, though.
Apparently too much rain can keep the roots from going deep, which has an effect on the size of the ears of corn or yield. He said “Rain makes grain, but not too much.”
At the time (a couple weeks ago), the beans were having a little trouble too, and it was having an effect on the markets. He said it would probably work itself out, but that particular morning, the overnight markets were in a bit of a panic.
All that was important, and demonstrates how the farmers take quite a bit of risk. But the thing that kept going through my mind was “Rain is good, but too much rain is bad.” Isn’t that like life?
That principle shows up a lot of places. Rest is good, but too much makes you restless (kind of ironic). Work is very good, but too much can lead you to neglect family or your relationship with God.
Speaking of God, there are verses that go into this too. The one that popped into my head during our talk was the one about honey: ” Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick” (Prov. 25:16).
That’s from the New Living Translation, which is my favorite since it’s in language we tend to use. The English Standard Version says: “If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.” Vomit?
But the earlier King James Version says basically the same thing, albeit in the older, more flowery language of the time: “Hast thou found honey? Eat so much as sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.” Ok.
I wonder what would happen if I told our people: Only eat so much as sufficient for thee, lest thou be too filled therewith, and thou becomest fleshy! Or vomit. They’d probably smack me.
Now honey is a carb, but we do need some carbs for quick energy. They help with brain function, and the benefits of bee pollen are pretty widely accepted. But too much honey will make you sick. Or fleshy.
We’re going to tackle this starting on Monday the 27th. For the first time ever, we’re going to pair Biggest Losers up with the popular 24 day challenge to see what we can accomplish. I’m actually GIVING AWAY the Biggest Loser and Boot Camps to people doing the 24-Day Challenge this time! So watch your honey!
Written by Tom Dolan