So Beautiful
He Should Have Told The Bees by Amanda Cox is an absolutely superb Christian novel that I absolutely adored.
This is a powerful read about life, love, loss and family. We learn that no one has a perfect life. We are all living lives, with private battles that no one knows about.
Sometimes what we believe about the lives of others is simply not true. We see what they choose to show us. Likewise, we are not responsible for the failings in others. “The lie still lives on inside me – the belief that my mother loved alcohol more than me… My mother has a substance disorder… It wasn’t the result of anything I did or didn’t do.” Alcohol abuse needs help and understanding in order to recover from. Often the root cause lies deep within.
We witness a character who has spent a lifetime trying to ‘fix’ her mother. “You couldn’t be the one to fill the holes in another person’s life… let[ting] God heal the wounds.” God is the Great Physician who will heal us if we just let Him in.
A character has known God but has wandered away. We witness a returning to the Father. “God help me to know what to do next… I don’t want to be motivated by my fear of all things that could go wrong. Teach me how to rely on you.” When we have faith, we do not need to fear, for God has got us and will hold us up.
We see that “her trust in God had started with trusting a person.” We need to have lives so aligned with the Father that others can see the way to Him.
There has been loss within the novel. For one character her father has died. “Every morning when Beck woke, her heart bled like a fresh wound as reality set in.” Loss hurts us deeply. Each day is a battle. “She was doing everything in her power not to lose hope.”
Two characters have felt rejected by their mother. Either there was a physical or a mental leaving – but both hurt and left deep scars.
And there is a young girl who feels abandoned by her parents for the summer, as she stays with her uncle. She is a child, wise beyond her years as she bonds with her neighbour, Beck, who is tending the bees. “You make her feel like she’s important.” Over the summer, the young girl, Fern, and the reader, learn all about the bees.
There is a parallel between our lives and the bees. We are the bees and the bee keeper is God. He provides everything we need but we still have to go out into the world with all its’ dangers. We need to find our way back home. “Home. The feeling of coming to rest in a place that was good and wholesome and safe – a feeling she’d spent a lifetime chasing.” We all want to find a place (or a person) to call home.
He Should Have Told The Bees is a very beautiful novel and one that I never wanted to end.
I received a free copy from the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
