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My Lily

A reflection on Matthew 6:25-34 and my wife.

(Also posted at ThinkOutLoud.org)

Last weekend I went interview shopping with Joy. Shopping with your girl gives a guy a lot of time to think. Sure, you spend a good deal of that time thinking about clothes, your girl, and ultimately separating the two, but even with all those thoughts there is still time aplenty to think of other things. In my extra time I thought about how I didn’t really have to do this shopping thing all that often. That made me pretty happy. Then I started to wonder why many guys end up shopping with their girls much more than I have shopped with mine. I have maybe gone shopping for clothes with Joy once or maaaybe twice in any given year.

This is when thoughts started to pour into mind. Joy doesn’t buy clothing all that often. Joy doesn’t buy much clothing when she does go to buy clothes. Joy doesn’t really worry about clothes all that much. But wait… Joy does have a fairly well stocked closet full of clothes, shoes, and undergarments. How did this happen to a girl who seems to put so little thought into clothing acquisition?

Then I started to remember how this worked out. Joy didn’t shop for clothes. People gave her clothes! And people gave her lots of clothes… all the time. She gets clothes from church friends, “sisters,” a sister-in-law, cousins, her mother-in-law, school friends, people who have gained weight, people who have lost weight… the list is pretty extensive actually. Joy’s benefactors are numerous, but many of them also have really good taste and take great care of their clothes. So, when Joy gets clothes they are in great condition. However, on reflection I remember clothes that didn’t fit right or were wrong for Joy in one way or another that Joy just made work. She’d remove a tag and wear a shirt backwards for instance. Then she’d have a stylish shirt that showed her back instead of something that was way too big.

All this reflection brought to mind a passage from the Bible. In Jesus’ sermon on the mount he give the beatitudes and gives a number of directions for living life. In the course of saying all these things he also said some things that Joy seems to have applied masterfully (probably without having ever thought about it.)

Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies 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. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

After thinking about this passage I was so impressed with how well it has worked in Joy’s life. She didn’t really have the resources to fuss about what she wore every day, but she is a well dressed and attractive young lady today. She often talks about how she was busy following her brothers around and not taking care to keep herself from bruising up or scarring her body. Amazingly, this complete lack of concern for all these things was rewarded.

I am really impressed when things work out just like Jesus says that they will. His teachings are often quite counterintuitive, but in the end He’s right. It’s fun to see that through my wife and her life.

Posted by David under Reflections |