Considering the Lilies... is hard when they're buried under the snow

Matthew 6:24-34

We spend a lot of time worrying. We spend a lot of time being anxious. Thinking over the past and wondering how it could have gone better. Thinking about the future and wondering how we can make it better. Worrying about WHEN spring will show up, if not whether it will or not.

We worry about our bodies as they age. We worry about our family and their well being. We worry. We worry. We worry.

I don't particularly enjoy the over used, now cliched, biblical command to not worry about anything and pray about everything. I don't like that my worrying causes Jesus to say that I am of little faith. And I don't like that Jesus tells us to consider the lilies when it's 13 degrees out and snowing!

At least, it seems difficult to reflect on spring time and flowers and grass when we are tromping around in boots, hats, gloves, and warm coats. The problem is that we are anxiously looking forward to springtime. We would love to SEE those flowers blooming and consider how we are taken care of like them.

But perhaps this is the best time to consider the lilies. To reflect on our worry. To wonder what faith has to do with any of it. To consider all the life frozen under a layer of snow and ice. Seeds waiting to spring forth when the sun shines again. Life waiting to break through frozen soil and greet the sun.

Buried in the promise that God knows our every need is the promise that spring will come again. Not just for the cold ground and the life beneath it, but for us. And just as we are buried under all the things that weigh us down, God will bring new life to us as well. Springtime. Sunshine.

Our light in the darkness is the promise of springtime, of resurrection, and of new life. Consider the lilies, how they are dead and frozen beneath the soil and snow. If God will bring them new life and cause their faces to shine again, how much more will God lift you up out of where you are stuck or weighed down?