March 29 – Be

When I was very young I loved watching Romper Room on TV – a popular children’s daytime program for many years. Each city that ran the show had their own local hostess and studio classroom full of children, but the props were basically the same everywhere.

One of these was a pair of Bees – the Do-Bee and the Don’t Bee. They were always introduced with a song:

I always do what’s right,

I never do anything wrong.

I’m a Romper Room Do-Bee,

A Do-Bee all day long.

The hostess/teacher would pull out the Bees for a lesson on ways to be and not to be, which really meant things to do and not to do. So often, “Do” and “Be” seem to be interchangeable, don’t they?

My grandmother was a tease and she enjoyed singing the Do-Bee song to me, only mixing up the words:

I always do what’s wrong, 

I never do anything right.

And it drove my little mind crazy! I kept trying to correct her – “No, Grandma, you’re singing it wrong!” But she would just laugh. Devilish Grandma. She was definitely a Don’t Bee.

As children, we might be taught that our value is in what we do or don’t do. Even infants, if they sit quietly, are called good. If they cry, there’s the temptation to call them bad, or naughty. Even though they are just being babies – no decision being made by them to be good or bad. 

Remembering the words of the creation story, that we were made good; that this is our essential being. This is worthy of our attention. We have been made good. Yes, we can and do mess that up. But isn’t it good to come back, center down into our essential being, to spend some time just being. Not doing. Just being.

No multi-tasking.

No single-tasking.

No planning or list-making.

No analyzing.

No judging or critiquing.

Just being.

I know, it’s about the hardest thing in the world. But, trust me; it sure is worth it.