After this girl (who is Patricia herself) completes this lovely ceremony with her family at the age of five, she goes on to struggle with reading throughout all of elementary school, until, as you can probably predict by the title, she meets Mr. Falker. He teaches her in a way that no one else ever has, and at long last, in fifth grade, printed words finally start to make sense to Patricia. The book ends like this, with Patricia gleefully celebrating alone in her house:“The grandpa held the jar of honey so that all the family could see, then dipped a ladle into it and drizzled honey on the cover of a small book. The little girl had just turned five. ‘Stand up, little one,’ he cooed. ‘I did this for your mother, your uncles, your older brother, and now you!’ Then he handed the book to her. ‘Taste!’ She dipped her finger into the honey and put it into her mouth. ‘What is that taste?’ the grandma asked. The little girl answered, ‘Sweet!’ Then all of the family said in a single voice, ‘Yes, and so is knowledge, but knowledge is like the bee that made that sweet honey, you have to chase it through the pages of a book!’ The little girl knew that the promise to read was at last hers. Soon she was going to learn to read.”
“She spooned honey on the cover and tasted the sweetness, and said to herself, ‘The honey is sweet, and so is knowledge, but knowledge is like the bee who made the honey, it has to be chased through the pages of a book!’ Then she held the book, honey and all, close to her chest. She could feel tears roll down her cheeks, but they weren’t tears of sadness; she was happy, so very happy.”
Beautiful story. Even if my story ended there, it would be pretty great. But that's not the end.
A few days after reading this book, I joined a small handful of ladies for coffee one evening to have some community time where we could sit and chat about our faith. In the circle of six young women, I only had a preexisting relationship with one person. The other four were essentially strangers to me, but I was certainly pleased to meet them. One new friend and I (let's call her "Mary"), surprisingly, have several friends in common. (As it turns out, she grew up in Putnam County where I now attend church.) As she shared more about herself, she described that she is not a part of a church or other community of faith, that she doesn't know too much about the Bible, that she spent several years tagging along with a friend to a church youth group as a teenager, and that she really is just interested in having a place where she can talk about faith with other people, as there are not many people in her current life who are open to this topic of conversation. I was already excited about all of the new relationships that were forming in our coffee circle and the future conversations I could imagine us all having, but I felt the Lord had put "Mary" and I in this group together for a particular reason. It was a bit exhilarating!
As conversation drew to an end, Lisa, the friend who had invited us all together was chatting with "Mary" about the particular translation of the Bible that Lisa had brought with her. It had been lying on the table, encircled by our various caffeinated beverages, throughout the evening. Consequently, a drop of honey had landed on the cover. I had taken notice of this earlier in the evening and thought to myself, "Oh, that's funny," thinking back to Patricia Polacco's lovely honey ceremony, but didn't make much of it. Until this moment: Lisa was describing what an easy-to-read translation it was and how it is a great place to start if you are unfamiliar with scripture. Lisa picked up the Bible and, being the mom-of-toddlers that she is, wiped the honey straight onto her shirt. My internal dialogue started going NUTS! "The honey ceremony! This is crazy! Is this really happening right now?" Lisa passed her Bible to "Mary" to keep until the next time we meet, and then the most significant thought of the evening, which wasn't just a thought, but more a word from the Lord, entered my mind: "She needs to taste it. She needs to TASTE IT!!!"
Psalm 34: 8 "O taste and see that the LORD is good!"
This moment, I am convinced, was meant just for me and completely ordained. Regardless of how well I explain it (and I'm sure I haven't actually done all that well), I am sure it will never be as astonishing to anyone else as it was to me in that moment. I believe the Lord just wanted to reveal Himself in a private and personal way to me, to remind me that the relationship I have with Him is not merely a theoretical and abstract one, but rather one that is close and intimate. He knows my innermost thoughts. He knew that drop of honey would BLOW MY MIND.
Upon returning to school, I also read a related Polacco book to my class called The Bee Tree. This one ends like this:
This time, the idea was even more precious to me than it had been at first. I was now reminded that we must pursue the Lord through the pages of His Word. But if we do, adventure, knowledge, wisdom, and so much more, await us!“Grampa took Mary Ellen inside away from the crowd. “Now, child, I am going to show you what my father showed me, and his father before,” he said quietly. He spooned the honey onto the cover of one of her books. “Taste,” he said, almost in a whisper. . . .
“There is such sweetness inside of that book too!” he said thoughtfully. “Such things...adventure, knowledge and wisdom. But these things do not come easily. You have to pursue them. Just like we ran after the bees to find their tree, so you must also chase these things through the pages of a book!”
O TASTE AND SEE.
