Consider the Lilies

I had just discarded the wilted bouquet of lovely flowers sent for my birthday by a thoughtful son. Washing the attractive vase they came in, I wished I had more flowers to fill it up. Then I thought about the beautiful orange lilies blooming on their graceful stems down by the roadside.

Howard was mowing, and I had just swept grass clippings from the porch, so I was already outside. I got some scissors from a kitchen hook and resolutely headed for the driveway, keeping an eye out for the unpredictable traffic. Usually, the overgrowth of other wild bushes would have detained me, but every thing had been mowed back, so it was easy to snip off several stalks of the lilies. Now they reign majestically in the living room.

I couldn't help thinking of Jesus's words in Matthew 6:28, where he cautions against worries.
"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe  you, O you of little faith?"

Sure enough, when I looked at my bouquet, I could see withered blooms of yesterday dried on the stalk. But each day, new ones grew in the place of it! Not long ago, my husband and I purged our closets (somewhat). I had perfectly good clothes that I never wear anymore, and he had scads of shirts he didn't need.  Now once in a while, I get something new and am able to enjoy it! We don't need to horde our clothes, for Jesus promises to provide what we need!

"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble," Matthew 6:31-34.

And the lilies are still blooming!