Think About Flowers
Matthew 6:28-29 ESV says, “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 arrayed like one of these.”
I love it when Jesus invites us into a simple space of contemplation. All our built-up worries and anxieties are deflated with the simple thought of flowers. Sometimes, Jesus teaches us profound realities, but often, the invitation is simply to see his kingdom operating in the smallest way.
See his faithfulness in the wildflowers. See his goodness all around you. Think about flowers.
Consider their effortless beauty. Who dresses the flowers? Who makes the beautiful through holy design, arranging them over the landscape, setting them in their place all around us? It was God in his goodness and wonder. A world within our world, radiating beauty to our searching eye and giving life to the creatures around it.
Think about the flowers. Not in a passing thought, but contemplate for a moment their beauty and color. Then remember that “if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30 ESV).
Of course, Jesus is not talking about clothes. He’s talking about trust. Do you think a God who pours out faithfulness and beauty on the simplest flower would any less clothe you, his image-bearer, with any less beauty?
We don’t need to get caught up in self-provision, making plans, and constantly worrying about the future. A life of worry leads us to forsake trust, always second-guessing God’s plans and questioning his leadership. Yet in my life I’ve discovered that the more I doubt God’s plans and try to work it out on my own, I just end up back in his hands (much more exhausted than when I started) and still unable to make my own way. And do you know what the Lord says every time? “Think about flowers.”
God never asks us to have it all figured out. He calls us to wait for him to provide for the current day. That includes the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs we have. I don’t have to know what next week will bring because God is faithful to me right now.
How often do you turn to God in your areas of need and ask him for leadership? When the worries of life build up, how quick are you to look to God and say, “I trust you; can you help me walk in your ways?”
I know that sometimes the power of our worry can overshadow our perspective of God’s care. So Jesus shows us the way out of that cave by extending a flower, turning our attention to the songs of birds, and reminding us that we are no less precious to him than these.
