Like one of these

Julia ♦ March 10, 2021 ♦ 5 Comments

Intricate simplicity: a single flower is a call to serenity. Keukenhof, Netherlands, March 2007

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” — Jesus Christ (as quoted in Matthew 6:28-29, NIV)

I grew up hearing this verse, and always thought it beautiful.  The words bring to mind a large field of flowers, but notice the phrase “like one of these” (emphasis mine).  Some might say it was hyperbole for Jesus to claim that one of the richest men in history had no adornment to equal that of a single flower, but I think the words are also true in a literal sense.  There is nothing made with human hands that can match the unique beauty of one perfect bloom.

This statement relates to the beauty of nature, certainly, but Jesus was also saying something about simplicity.  In the context of the surrounding text, it becomes clear that he is teaching about the futility of worry, and the importance of faith in the face of being distracted by real and valid concerns: food, clothing, longevity.

This implies the obvious question: if even our most basic needs are no cause for worry, what does this say about the countless details I tend to fret about each day?  Today, as I rush about attending to trivial distractions, I hope I can remember to focus on what Jesus said about the perfection of an ordinary flower, a gift of pure grace.

One year ago today:

Simple, natural, plain

And speaking of lovely flowers, here’s one of the photos Raynard sent me from the Philadelphia Flower Show.  Because it was emailed, the file size is a bit small to have a lot of detail, but it will give you an idea of what beautiful blooms he saw:

Raynard took this photo at the Philadelphia Flower Show this week.

This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.