consider the lilies...

"Therefore, I tell you to stop being perpetually uneasy about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on...Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add a single moment to the span of your life? And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they never toil nor spin...but if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you. O you of little faith?" (Matt. 6:25-30). For as far back as I can remember, I have admired the stately and elegant Calla Lily Flower. I don't remember the first time I laid eyes on one, but I do know that when I did it trumped all other flowers for me. Something about the grand sturdy stem and the single shapely bloom spoke to me of strength and dignity, beauty and delicacy. It is, and I assume will remain, my very favorite flower. In recent days God has brought my attention to the previous verses and despite having read them many times before I had never really given much thought to the lily part. You know those moments when it seems as if God takes a neon-yellow Sharpie to the printed pages of your Bible and you sit up and take notice, it was like that. "Consider the lilies"...I found myself staring at the faux Calla Lily bloom that stands tall in an slender glass vase beside my bed. "To consider" means to think thoroughly through the process of something. I began to imagine the seedling this grand flower once was, not being a botanist myself, I did my best to envision the underground sprouting process and the moment it finally pushes the earth out of its way to see the light of day. I imagine it drinking in the early morning dew and savoring the life-giving rays of sun until it attains splendid maturity. "Consider the lilies"....they don't toil or spin, they don't labor or make schedules, they don't stress and attempt to manage their pending futures, "Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificence, excellence, dignity, and grace was not arrayed like one of these." (Mt.6:29) From seed to stunning flower, Jesus Himself was reminding us that if the Father cares enough to tend to what grows in a field, how much more will He take care of that which was created by His hands and born of His heart? Worry has no power to add a single moment of time to our life span, on the contrary, the all-consuming anxious thoughts eat away and erode the peace that He has intended to guard our hearts and minds. I do not take this lesson lightly and neither do I share it flippantly. From one who is, in the natural sense, currently without a sure income, I am challenged to my core to NOT be one "of little faith". I have been given the divine opportunity to take Him at His word and to trust Him with every intricate fiber of my being. And really isn't that what we're all called to do? If He is our Sufficiency, if He is our Provider, if He is I AM, then our stability and security must only be drawn from Him. Our steady employment, our savings accounts, our possessions and family, these can all be great but they can not be what we're putting our stock in. Circumstances change and will. God, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is our Constant, our Security, our Stability and our Safety. He is our Rock and it takes faith to allow Him to be so. In trusting Him, we must lean in ALL things and at ALL times- in the times of circumstantial steadiness and, yes, in times of shifting sand. "Therefore do not worry and be anxious...but seek first of all His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given unto you. So don't worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble." (Mt.6:34) Grace, like manna, is given to be gathered for THIS day. We're not promised a tomorrow to even be fretting over, we're given a today and asked to have faith in it. Consider the lilies...

...so I will be with you

Recently I was encouraged to read Joshua 1 and have done several times now. This morning as I reread this portion of Scripture needing to remind myself to be strong and very courageous, I remained stuck on some of the first few words in God's address to Joshua. I realize now how much I was overlooking and not hearing in these verses because I'd previously skimmed over that part. God says to Joshua, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with you." I'd read it before and surely had thought that was great but I don't think I quite got exactly what God was saying here. Just like with Moses-in the same ways He was made known in the life of Moses, God was promising He would be with Joshua and subsequently us as well. The words, "as I was" seemed to be magnifying themselves this time and I began to ponder all the many ways God had been with Moses- even from infant hood. I realized quickly that My Teacher was trying to illuminate my deeper understanding of these words. I spent the next couple hours pouring over just the first few chapters of Exodus. What I discovered was more than enough to stir my faith and bring another level of divine peace to my soul. I began by being reminded of how God shielded baby Moses from a declaration of death and placed him in a palace where he was raised by royalty. Years later, after covering up a murderous mistake, he fled from home. It was in Midian where he simply sat at a well to rest that a seemingly insignificant act shaped his future destiny. While at the well he simply helped some women water their flock, which led to him being provided for in Jethro's house. Basic provision, housing and eventually a wife were found even while attempting to run away. And it was his employment as a simple shepherd for Jethro's flocks that led him to the backside of the wilderness. All moments of his life, all paths he'd taken, all choices he'd made, brought him by the divine hand of God to this precise place in his destiny. It's not everyday one encounters a bush that's burning, but not. I don't presume to know if Moses had been looking that day to encounter God or not, Scripture offers no insight. What I do recognize in this portion of Exodus is that Moses recognized this phenomenon for what it was- a divine encounter with I AM. Scripture tells us he turned and heard God's voice speak. He took off his sandals as instructed and walked on holy ground. He was chosen and given a clear mandate to go and bring the Israelites out of captivity. He was given a promise from God that He'd be with him and was granted open dialogue with the Creator of the universe. He was given God's word, His name, His promises, authority, and a clear and very precise play by play on what would occur when Moses went to Pharaoh. To top it all off, Moses was told he'd be given respect, favor,and prosperity; that he'd not leave empty-handed but would strip the Egyptians of their belongings! As I put my Bible and notepad down, I was literally overwhelmed by the amount of material in just a few short "chapters" of one life. Then just as quickly as I'd set my things down, I began pondering my very own life and how in just as few chapters of my own story there too is so much to acknowledge. What an incredible story He's written in my life-how faithful, how loving, how providing...and the story isn't over yet! Yes, we can find great strength in recalling how you "were with Moses", but I find the greatest flood of gratitude and expectation in knowing that You've made such a hope-filled oath in also saying to us, to me, "so I WILL BE with you..."