My dad has bees. Today, I went to his house, and he showed me all the honey he had gotten from the hives. He took the lid off a 5-gallon bucket full of honey, and on top of the honey, there were 3 little bees struggling. They were covered in sticky honey and drowning. I asked him if we could help them, and he said he was sure they wouldn’t survive. Casualties of honey collection, I suppose.

I asked him again if we could get them out and kill them quickly. After all, he was the one who taught me to put a suffering animal (or bug) out of its misery.

He finally conceded and scooped the bees out of the bucket. He put them in an empty Chobani yogurt container and put the plastic container outside.

Because he had disrupted the hive with the earlier honey collection, bees were flying all over the place outside.

We put the 3 little bees in the container on a bench and left them to their fate. My dad called me out a little while later to show me what was happening. These three little bees were surrounded by all of their sisters (all of the bees are females), and they were cleaning the sticky, nearly dead bees, helping them get all the honey off their bodies. We came back a short time later, and only one little bee was left in the contain. She was still being tended to by her sisters.

When it was time for me to leave, we checked one last time and all three of the bees had been cleaned off enough to fly away, and the container was empty.

Those three little bees lived because they were surrounded by family and friends who would not give up on them, who refused to let them drown in their own stickiness, and who resolved to help until the last little bee could be set free. – Anonymous

Many will be heading into the Thanksgiving holiday limping, or possibly some will be clinging on for dear life. And you know what? Most of you reading this will be too self-absorbed, bellyaching about the over-abundance of stressors you’ll encounter this season, about that family member who gets on your last nerve, and on and on that you’ll fail to notice. May I suggest that you cut it out?

Give your self-interests a break this Thanksgiving…Look out for someone else’s limps.

If you stopped contemplating your own set of issues long enough to intently observe your family or friends, rather than yourself, for just a moment, you might notice the limps. I 100% assure you they’re there. You just never bothered to look.

Lions can spot a gazelle’s limp from a mile away; it’s what they live for. It’s that moment they start slipping in for the kill. (1 Peter 5:8) What’s needed is for someone to stand in the gap for them. So why don’t you be that person? Like the lesson of those three little bees who lived because they were surrounded by family and friends who would not give up on them and who resolved to help until the last little bee could be set free.

These Biblical principles should be enacted more than ever at this time of year. Like the Apostle Paul tells us, “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4)

Deliberating over how best to carve the Thanksgiving turkey, cheers in the background from the football game on TV, regaling one another with hilarious childhood exploits, and banter over the hunting season that just came in. That’s all good and fine. But in the midst of it, remember to look for the limps. I 100% assure you they’re there.