The Beautiful is as Useful as the Useful

Recently Utah's flag was redesigned. The most prominent part of the new flag is a beehive. The old flag also had a beehive at its center, but now it is even bigger. In fact, the flag is called the Utah Beehive Flag, and the beehive is meant to represent "Utah’s history and a sense of community, plus 'Industry,' our state’s slogan." At least part of the reason that the beehive is so important to Utah comes from the Book of Mormon in the story of the Jaredites. In fact, President Brigham Young wanted to name the state Deseret after the word for honeybee in the Jaredite language, and even though Utah was eventually chosen as the name, in 1959 the state actually officially became the "Beehive State." The passage in the Book of Mormon reads this way as it describes the Jaredites leaving on their journey: "And they did also carry with them deseret, which, by interpretation, is a honey bee; and thus they did carry with them swarms of bees, and all manner of that which was upon the face of the land, seeds of every kind" (Ether 2:3). The bee and beehive became natural symbols of the pioneers who, in addition to making their own voyage to the promised land, worked together tirelessly like the bees of a beehive in order to establish their society. The work of bees in a beehive is a reminder of unity and hard work, and so it is easy to see why those early Saints would want to use that as a reminder of their devoted labors to building the kingdom of God.  

            To me there is another lesson in the fact that these Jaredites took with them honey bees on their long journey. While certainly there are agricultural reasons to have bees, extremely important for pollination, I have to think that the Lord also wanted them to have joy in their journey. In other words, He wanted them to not only have enough food to survive, but He wanted to also make their food sweet by giving them honey. That certainly wasn't a requirement for them to survive physically, but the Lord created the things of the earth for us to enjoy: "Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul" (Doctrine and Covenants 59:18-19). We see this in how He also provided honey to Lehi's group after their eight years in the wilderness: "And we did come to the land which we called Bountiful, because of its much fruit and also wild honey; and all these things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish" (1 Nephi 17:5). Certainly they didn't need to eat honey to physically not perish, but perhaps they really needed it to mentally survive--surely they needed something to "gladden the heart" and "enliven the soul" after eating raw meat for so many years! When they boarded the ship Nephi mentioned honey again: "And it came to pass that on the morrow, after we had prepared all things, much fruits and meat from the wilderness, and honey in abundance, and provisions according to that which the Lord had commanded us, we did go down into the ship" (1 Nephi 18:6). They had honey to bring joy to their journey, and I believe the Lord wants us to find joy in His creations during this life. 

                In the introductory chapters of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, as we are introduced to the Bishop of Digne who would change the course of Jean Valjean's life, there is a conversation recorded between him and Madame Magloire which underscores the importance of enjoying what God has created for us. Their small garden in their humble house had "four square plots rimmed with box. In three of these, Madame Magloire cultivated vegetables; in the fourth, the Bishop had planted some flowers; here and there stood a few fruit-trees. Madame Magloire had once remarked, with a sort of gentle malice: 'Monseigneur, you who turn everything to account, have, nevertheless, one useless plot. It would be better to grow salads there than bouquets.' 'Madame Magloire,' retorted the Bishop, 'you are mistaken. The beautiful is as useful as the useful.' He added after a pause, 'More so, perhaps.'" Indeed, at times flowers may be just as important as food for our well-being. Our symbols of beehives should help us recall not only the importance of hard work and unity, but they should be a reminder that we should enjoy the beauty of God's creations.