A while back, I read a thought-provoking web post on the topic, Consider the Lilies. In it, the author Jill Carattini wrote, “..Beauty can offer healing; that paying attention, even to fleeting glimpses of the mere suggestion of new creation, is deeply restorative…It is quite possible to see and not really see, to hear and not really hear…When Jesus asks the world to consider the lilies, to consider beauty in the midst of all the ashes around us, his request is full of promise, for he is both the Source of beauty and its Subject.”
Luke 12:27, “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” I cannot even imagine the opulence of King Solomon “in all his glory” – Our minds probably could not even comprehend what he possessed in his palace or storehouses. Yet, the lily is much more exquisite than anything Solomon owned. Jesus wants us to be aware of how the ravens are fed with very little effort on their part. And He wants us to examine the beauty of the lily and its Source.
“Paying attention to the ephemeral [or short-lived] is in and of itself restorative because it is paying attention to him. Here, both the anxiety-addicted and the attention-overloaded can find solace in a different sort of kingdom: one in which there is room for the paradox of a fleeting world with eternity in its heart.” (J. Carattini)
Ah, the world is filled with the anxiety addicted and the attention-overloaded, Christians not excluded. The remedy is finding solace in a different sort of kingdom, keeping in mind the Source of beauty around us, with eternity in our sites. Here is the latest in my little kingdom/#straygifts photos: (no pictures of ravens or lilies, I’m afraid, but still some of God’s wonders.)
Top Row (left to right):
-$4.00 Mums on the Clearance shelves. These yellow ones look a bit frazzled, but the leaves look healthy. The brightest and best were near $15.00, but I knew this one would be o.k. after some trimming. (For the record, I also bought white, purple, orange, and red Mums as well on the Clearance shelves!)
-Yellow roses on the rose bushes out front.
-Tiny little Red Salvia blooms…a new plant for me this year. I didn’t know if they would bloom again.
-For weekends, for rest, I’m thankful. For a bird feeder- a gift from a young friend years ago, for yellow trumpet flowers, and southwestern sunsets, thank you, Lord.
Bottom Row:
-Most of my roses are all withering at the moment, but the honeysuckle blooms have decided to make an appearance.
-Regularly $20.00, I bought these packs of Fall paper for $6.00 each. I have been trying to get back into card making/sending notes lately.
-Gentle rain on roses
-I was pruning the front yard roses one morning as my husband was pulling out of the driveway. He stopped to show me the reflection of the sunrise in the front windows.
