The Lilies

So I usually try to have my reflection out on Wednesdays. In fact, I try to make it a spiritual discipline. I like structure and having a plan. I keeps me focused and organized, but sometimes the plan falls apart, and no matter how hard I work, I can’t do everything in a single day.

And that was yesterday for me. I ran around at top speed, trying to get everything on my list done, but at the end of the day, something had to give. Between the wifi going down, the number of calls that had to be made, meeting the plumbers, and nineteen other things, I just couldn’t make the time work. It happens, and that’s ok.

It’s tempting to get wrapped up in what we do for work, and our work is important. But at this time of year, as one Church year closes and a new one is beginning, and we are coming close to Advent, when we consider what the coming of Jesus means to us and to our world, it’s more important to remember that before we had jobs, we were made people. Jesus reminds us that we should “consider the lilies.” (Luke 12.22-34) Yes, there are times when we need to put in that extra hour and get one more thing done, but Jesus reminds us that the blog post can be written tomorrow, the report that’s due on Friday isn’t as important as having dinner with friends on Thursday, the phone call to mom or dad or sister or cousin is more important than the call that can wait for the morning.

God made us humans not to be separate from the creation, but to be an integral part of it with a special calling of stewardship, but to be that we have to listen to the part of us that continually calls us back to being like the lilies, neither toiling or spinning. We must allow ourselves to be clothed by God with the glory of living rather than the glory of riches. We need to invest our treasure in each other and in our world, for where our treasure is, there our heart will be. And it’s ok if the blog post comes out on Thursday.