Last week, as I took the dogs out first thing in the morning I was greeted with a surprise. No...it wasn't anything the dogs did...it was little bouquets of flowers! Delicate pink lilies were blooming in little patches all around the yard! They were in the front and the back of the house! In almost every direction I saw little, sweet patches of pink. It literally took my breath away.
I discovered that they last only for a few days, and then die away. They are only here for a short time, but what beauty they provide while they are here.
During the last month we have been going through the end of the season of life for Steve's stepdad, Toliver. He is now under hospice care. We are traveling down this last road with him, remembering the good times that we have shared, and hopefully giving him some comfort along the way.
Toliver has not been a type of person that people would automatically pick out of a crowd.. He has always lived a rather simple, conventional life. His main focus was always his God and his family. He never strived for anything extraordinary. What a wonderful example of how we were meant to live. We aren't to be overconcerned about what may come around the bend; just live in the present time and do the best you can in the place that God has placed you. Like the old adage...bloom where you are planted.
Life is like those spots of bright flowers in my yard. We silently grow, for the most part unnoticed. Then when the time is right, we burst forth the unique glory that God has placed within us. Our blossoms are not perfect, but lovely nonetheless. God determines how long our blooms will last, so we need not fret about life. God will take care of us. Jesus knew how much we tend to fret and worry about our lives.
Matthew, Chapter 6 states:
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
God knows all that we need, and how many days are assigned to us. Let us be grateful for those days, and every moment that we are given.
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