Lilies

I tried really hard before I wrote this post to find a video of George Clooney saying the phrase "Consider the lilies of the goddamn field" in O Brother Where Art Thou.    I was unsuccessful, but here's a consolation prize:

I will admit, every time I read this passage, I gloss over it.   "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you-you of little faith!"  I hear Clooney's voice using it improperly and I giggle like a maniac.   But look at it again, for the first time, even though you've heard it all your life.  

Luke 12:22-3122 He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you-you of little faith! 29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

I've noticed that when I'm getting desperate, help shows up.   Not always as much as I want but it does. Things go better if I have my head on straight, spiritually speaking.    Worrying doesn't help.  It makes a bad situation worse.  Focusing on the Kingdom of God puts everything in perspective and helps everything else into place.

Not to say God is a magic sky fairy who will make money appear in your bank account if you send a Nigerian "prince" $25 and your routing and account number.   That's not the case, obviously.    What is the case is that God will take care of us.

Consider the lilies.    Consider the ravens.   If his eye is on the sparrow, you can be sure it;s on you too.