Consider the Lilies

The other day my sweet boyfriend gave me these beautiful lilies. They're now sitting on my dining room table, which I walk by several times a day. Each time I pass them, I admire their beauty, inhale their fragrance.

This week is a stressful one. I've had car repairs to deal with, and I'm working on a deadline for a publication at work, which is taking way longer than I intended. Poor time management has caught up with me. It's frustrating. And so easy to worry about.

The lilies have been a visual reminder of the passage in Matthew 6 that addresses worry:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?' or "What will we drink?' or "What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today." (Matthew 6:25-34)

Beautiful flowers, and an even more beautiful reminder to let God handle my worries and stress.