Considering the Lily

I have picked a small posy of flowers from the garden to put on the table in the middle of the room. There are blue and purple salvia and daisies and a large white arum lily. A member of the Meeting stands and studies the flowers on the table. I'm a little apprehensive about what he might say. At times he can be angry, political, looking for an argument, and at other times he might ramble and not know when to stop.

He says with a note of wonder, 'The flowers are beautiful. I'm aware that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so seeing beauty is a spiritual experience which comes from within. For a long time I couldn't see beauty. I'm thinking of the Beatitudes and wonder how they are linked with beauty.'

I am touched. I think of the word 'grace' and how it can mean a blessing as well as beauty of form or movement.

The flowers have more to teach us. Someone quotes Jesus's saying 'Consider the lillies of the field, they toil not, neither do they spin, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.' The later verses go: 'Therefore do not worry, saying “What shall we eat?” Or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?”... do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.' (Matt:Chapt 6, 28-34)

I have been considering the lillies as I ponder the next steps in my work, wondering how things will work out. When I mention this, my friend advises:

'Stick with trusting that the universe will deliver your request. Be as clear as you can and ask nicely, then simply trust that the answer will come. Not trusting tells the universe not to deliver the solution to you i.e. you are the wrong address as you are on the wrong wavelength. Trusting is a very different energy/wavelength to not trusting - one is abundant, the other is lacking. I know which one I'd aim to choose and hold on to.'

I like the idea of 'asking nicely'. Somehow the flowers and the responses they have evoked in the Meeting, and the kind words of a friend, have made trusting much easier than it seemed at first.