“We grow generous with our time and resources as we are reminded how extravagantly God has showered his blessings on us.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – September 15, 2023
See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Matthew 6:28
My wife, Rita, and I enjoy experiencing beauty together. A beautiful sunset with its fading purple and orange hews. A beautiful full moon as we are caught up in the luminosity of its soft moonbeams. This summer, we have especially enjoyed a weekly routine of refreshing our home with fresh-cut flowers. Each Saturday, the parking lot of a local church bustles with a gathering of farmer’s market entrepreneurs proudly displaying their vibrant produce, artisan wares, and a diversity of cultural food expressions: Asian, Indian, Italian, etc. But for us, the wildflowers on display with their vivid colors have, with gentle charm, captured our hearts. Soft white daisies, small shy purple chicory, confident pink cosmos, extroverted black-eyed Susan’s, and this past week gigantic sunflowers with heavy heads bowed in prayer. With the calming presence of a quiet, almost divine beauty, our home comes alive when engulfed by this cornucopia of scents.
I am reminded of the beauty of being. As Jesus teaches us, see how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor… flowers do not do anything…they just look good. Their beauty in being is what makes them a blessing. I sometimes wonder if my work and all my good activities have become a stumbling block to my worship. My bridegroom Jesus desires most of all for me to be His bride and to be with Him. In the presence of the bridegroom, the bride becomes beautiful, radiant in the glow of pure love and righteousness. Like wildflowers tamed and trimmed…not doing anything, only being a beautiful reflection of their creator, so we are our Creator’s creation. Our calling and purpose are to be like Jesus, as we rest in Him and reflect Him to a lost world longing for something eternally beautiful. Inwardly we become attractive, arranged by Love.
He is our ever-faithful bridegroom to be with us always…now, at our graduation to heaven, and forever. Similar to some husbands and wives who grow old together, they grow to look like each other…so it is with us, the bride of Christ. Our being together in trust, truth-telling, and faithful love grows us more like our Savior and Lord. Our words are gentle and kind, and our response to another’s pain that is expressed in anger is empathic with patient love. We grow generous with our time and resources as we are reminded how extravagantly God has showered His blessings on us. We gratefully praise our Creator through our sufferings, knowing Jesus Christ, the Lily of the Valley, walks with us through our valleys, a reminder of the beauty in our brokenness, lest we give up hope and sink into ugly despair. Beauty, the fruit of being, lifts up lives to the Lord.
Henri Nouwen sums up these ideas of beauty in our being, “In many ways, we are like the busy executive who walks up to a precious flower and says: ‘What for God’s sake are you doing here? Can’t you get busy somehow?’ and then finds the flower’s response incomprehensible: ‘I am sorry, but I am just here to be beautiful.’ How can we also come to this wisdom of the flower that being is more important than doing? How can we come to a creative contact with the grounding of our own life?” By God’s grace, we resist having to do and grow beautiful by being.
“As an apricot tree stands out in the forest, my lover stands above the young men in town. All I want is to sit in his shade, to taste and savor his delicious love. He took me home with him for a festive meal, but his eyes feasted on me!” (Song of Solomon 2:3-4, MSG).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, by your grace, may my doing flow out of my being transformed by your Spirit through Christ’s love, and in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Application
Consider this Wisdom Hunters Free Resource – How to Have a Quiet Time
Related Reading
Genesis 5:22-24; Exodus 33:14-17; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 John 1:3
Worship Resource
Kari Jobe: The Dove
Donate
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