Swaying in the Breeze

"'Tain't worthwhile to wear a day all out before it comes."  Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)

I'm studying "Slaying the Giants in Your Life" in my Sunday School quarterly this quarter. Written by David Jeremiah, he teaches on those awful things such as worry, discouragement, quilt, etc. In Session 3 the subject is about worry, and I enjoyed reading the way the author discussed how illogical worry is. And he did it by talking about a lily . . .

"Have you walked through a beautiful garden in the springtime? It's very difficult to be weighed down by the cares of the world when you're surrounded by the majesty of God's beautiful art. Solomon was a glorious king, Jesus tells us, with the wealth of several kingdoms at his disposal. But all of his sparkling finery pales in comparison to the simplest lily that God placed beside your feet .

"And how many office hours have those lilies put in? Have you ever seen a lily suffering through an anxiety attack? They neither toil nor spin. They simply sway in the breeze (I like that), reaching heavenward toward the source of their water and sunshine and sustenance. They do neither more nor less than they were designed to do, and what they were designed to do is to glorify God. Would that you and I could glorify God with the simple eloquence of that little flower.

"Yet the great point is that God values you so much more than a lily. The lily is merely something He created for your pleasure, for you're the one that bears His image.  And if He cares for each petal or stem that blooms and fades within a season, how much more does He care for you? How much more does He take to heart the things that cause your anxiety?

"He took the answer to that question and displayed it on a cross two thousand years ago. He'd never suffer and die for the same children He planned to neglect. That's why worry is illogical."

Yes, the finery of a lily. The beauty of a garden. The sweetness of a meadow. He gave us all of this to bring us pleasure. He most certainly can handle our little worries.

"One is given strength to bear what happens to one, but not the one hundred and one different things that might happen."  C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)