Does anyone else get to this time of the semester and just need a breath? The end-of-year school events, last Wednesday nights, last choir concerts, last everything…it’s a marathon, even though everything feels like a sprint.
Can’t you just taste summer so near, and yet it is so far. Only three weeks until summer may seem like a dream – three weeks and then a break! Or it could make the stress seem all the heavier – there are only three weeks for me to get it all done.
Wherever you’re at with the first day of May, welcome to May!
April showers bring May flowers. Isn’t that how the old saying goes? I feel like I’ve seen a lot of pretty flowers this April, and living in Texas means that May is usually hot. So, I want to take in spring as much as possible. But what happens when spring seems like the craziest time of year?
For me, April was a lot. Kicked it off with Easter, ran straight into Girl’s retreat, all the while getting ready for senior celebrations and summer mission trips. I keep telling myself, “After _____, then I’ll breathe…” but then that thing led to the next and the next. I’m sure it is a crazy time for everyone. I found myself surrounded by a lot of flowers this April – girls’ retreat was flower-themed, I received flowers for my birthday and hung out with my grandmother and worked a little in her yard one weekend. They’re all so lovely and fun! I love flowers!
As I was sprinting through the fun of April, Matthew 6:28 kept coming to mind. How do we take in spring and enjoy things when our lives are crazy? Jesus tells us to “consider the lilies of the field.”
Sort of a strange way to combat stress. But what a whimsical sentence! Consider the lilies!
Jesus talks in Matthew 6:25-34 specifically on worry and anxiety. I know when my life gets busy, it’s the easiest time for worry, stress, and anxiety to creep in. So, here’s what Jesus says:
25 “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
He says, don’t worry! He makes it sound so easy, but then explains. Don’t worry about your basic needs – food, water, clothes. Then he compares us to the birds. They don’t strive. They have purpose, they work, but they don’t strive for things. How much of our time is spent striving and grasping for more? God feeds them and cares for them.
The good news here is that you are worth so much more than the birds! Hallelujah! Some birds are just sick!
Then Jesus goes on to give us some logic: we can’t add more time to our lives by worrying. We probably waste more of our time worrying or checking out when we get overwhelmed.
In verse 28, Jesus then compares us to the wildflowers. I love a good field with a mix of wildflowers! They’re lovely! Jesus says to observe the wildflowers (some translations say consider). To observe takes time. Time to stop and notice and time for the flowers to grow. Even in telling us not to worry, Jesus instructs us to slow down. Slow down to think, be in the moment, and to watch the flowers grow.
Know this, that even in all the daily tasks you must do – the laundry, the homework, the ever-constant question of what’s for dinner, God considers you of more worth than the wildflowers! You are loved, known, seen, cared for. Whatever you’re going through- good and bad, God is there to celebrate and to cry with you. We can have an intimate friendship with God. He is with us always. Sometimes we don’t always acknowledge that, but what a friend we have in Jesus. God knows your needs. Your cares. Your hopes.
So, Jesus tells us how to fight the worry, how to live in this season. Verse 33 says, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be provided for you.” Are you seeking Jesus first in your day? In that trial? In the stress? Or even seeking Him first when things are going well? We fight strife by seeking God first.
Paul encourages the church at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 3 that others are coming to encourage the church’s faith so that (verse 3) “no one may be moved by these afflictions.” Afflictions there means pressure, as if it were pressed from all sides. That word means oppressed, distress, tribulation, hard times. Paul says do not be moved by the pressure or disturbed by affliction. When he says not to move, that phrase can mean to move something like a tornado moves and destroys things, but it also literally means “to wag the tail of dogs, to shake.” When a dog’s tail is hitting you, it’s pretty annoying. Paul says when both extremes happen, we’re annoyed by others or by the little things in life, or when a tornado plows through, do not be moved.
I can just picture a field of tall grass shaking in the wind. When the roots are deep, the plant will stand. We face a lot of pressure from many places. It can feel like we’re running to the end of the year pressed on every side, so much so that every little thing is annoying. But Jesus tells us in John 16:33, “Take heart, for I’ve overcome the world.” He has overcome the pressure, the trials, the striving.
How do we live in the April and May flowers part of the saying instead of dwelling in the showers? We know God and seek after Him. We seek Him above all else. And then we release the worries because each day has enough worries. Pray, write out your fears, journal, go for a walk. And then we take every thought captive. We have a choice how we view this season, and every season of our lives. We can take our thoughts captive, or we can let them spiral out of control. There are things that we may “have” to do to live our lives – work, dishes, laundry, staff meetings, you know, the fun stuff. But we have a choice how we think about them and how we handle them.
So, when we run to Jesus, when our roots are dug down in Him, we can take refuge in His promises. We can enjoy these weeks, even when they’re busy, because we pause to consider the wildflowers and because we know that we have a relationship with the God who has conquered it all! And through the showers, we can know that rain is a sign of the Lord’s favor and that He has never left our side. He’s walking in the storms with us. But we can rest knowing He wants us to consider the lilies of the field.