Are Dandelions Really Junk Food?

              I hopped off the school bus as a third grader to have my maternal grandma chuckle as she retold my earliest family story connected with dandelions. She invited my toddler sister to “go outside and help me pull dandelions.” Angie replied big-eyed to  Grandma, “I’m afraid of lions!” Mother and I still laugh at what a bright, precocious little one Angie was.

Several times this spring, I glimpsed numerous honeybees land upon spikey dandelion blooms. I recalled reading of the high value placed on dandelions as a source of pollen for honeybees. Yet my research with the Oklahoma State Extension Education site listed dandelions as “minor nectar and pollen plant sources” for honeybees. 

I spotted this honeybee seeking pollen or nectar
from this dandelion  one early April morning
when hanging clothes on the clothesline.

            Another article specified that perhaps dandelions can produce their peak pollen for about an hour in late morning for about two months of the year. The primary source of “food” for the honeybees in our area is pollen and nectar from sweet clover and alfalfa, while some areas east of us rely on the persimmon and some in the south depend on the  blooms of the cotton crop.

            In life, there are “lesser” and “greater” things. Just as dandelions will never supersede sweet clover for honeybees, neither will humans prosper internally who seek to major on the minor elements. These are delineated by God’s Word. The scriptures below point to what should be the major goal of humans.

“Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” (Isaiah 43:7)

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

…Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.  (I Peter 4:11)

            Speaking, ministering, or serving others is valued highly in our society. Peter explained succinctly that whatever we do should be to glorify God through Jesus Christ.

            Some gardeners or apiarists (beekeepers) describe dandelion pollen as lower quality. A few characterize it as “junk food” for bees.

            Our service for the wellbeing of others without doing it through the power of Jesus for the glory of God categorically ranks with dandelions. People may benefit from the service. However, any good deeds, acts of kindness, or uses of our giftedness or talent without the prime motivation to bring glory to God through Jesus Christ are rendered futile and useless in His eyes. 

            May we internalize God's purpose for our living for His glory. In turn, we will succeed and prosper in our souls. No recession, no reversal of fortune, or the ever-changing volatility of fame or popularity will touch the contentment and peace of knowing our obedience will bring glory to Him.