On Why I Like Lilies

“And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ Matthew 6:28-31

I grew up wearing the label, “preacher’s kid.” Sounds easy, right? It was… this is until I tried to explain to people how my parents paid our bills. You see — my family lived by “faith”. And for us that meant we received no set monthly paychecks but instead lived a daily walk of trusting God to meet our physical needs. And just like the lilies of the field – God took very good care of us. In all the years that we lived this way, not once did we miss paying a bill. We never had holes in our clothes or felt like we were missing out on something in life. And whenever our cupboards did get bare – they never stayed empty for long…

I recall one afternoon when I was 12 years old. My family and I arrived at our house to find the entire kitchen floor covered in groceries. Earlier that morning, (while we were out running errands) an anonymous angel had brought us food. It was as if manna from heaven had fallen through our roof and landed on our kitchen floor. Though the donor was never revealed to me, I was left with something more precious than bread and milk – a priceless lesson in love that holds no expiry date and still affects my heart 23 years later.

After we caught our breath, we sat down in quiet amazement as we slowly sorted through the cheerios and chocolate chip cookies that lay piled around us. Suddenly, my mom gave a little yelp, “Look at THIS!” She shrieked triumphantly, holding up an unfamiliar looking yellow and brown carton before our eyes. “WOW,” She smiled, “Our secret shoppers even bought the molasses!” Molasses? I thought to myself as I wrinkled my nose. Ew.

But to my mom it was liquid gold. A few feet away from where we sat, hung our grocery list on the refrigerator door. And as we surveyed that list, we found every item on the list now surrounded us. Everything. Even the molasses.

My husband resigned from his job today. He’s been working for the same employer for 12 years and leaving that office has been a decision we have wrestled with for a long, long time. Looking at the future from this spot in the road, I’m not sure where it’s leading us – but I am quite certain the One that we follow does.

And that’s really all that matters.

Life may not always pan out the way that we plan for it, but if we follow the path that is surrounded by lilies, I am confident that we will find no lack in our lives. And on that note – I’m off to bake something with molasses!

Visit Ruth at: “it’s true”, sighed roo.