Consider the Lilies

There is a beautiful lesson on minimalism in the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry. It is found in Matthew 6. Similar teachings can be found in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 13.

Matthew 6:

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Okay, so there are plenty of take aways here, and first, I want to point out that Christ has just taught the people to lay up treasures in heaven. The following verses teach us that He will provide for us. If we are wise and not proud, if we are prudent and not excessive, we too have the promise that our needs will be met. And what more than the essentials do we really need in life? Most of it is just fluff and frills. So every now and then I just have to take a few steps back and realize this when my desire for more or better takes over.

How have you seen the blessings of God's love in providing for your needs in your own life?

Soon after we graduated from BYU-Idaho with our bachelor's degrees, my husband and I set out for a new adventure: graduate school. A wise decision, but often fraught with debts, we wanted to be wise in our endeavor of further education. As things turned out, one of the greatest blessings for us during this time was my parents' mission. They left the summer before graduate school, and as luck would have it, we were able to move into their home because graduate school was in the same town! Oh we would worry how all the bills would be paid and how we would ever afford to have kids with a lower income and the expense of school, but the Lord knew our needs. And he provided.

The second take away I would like to share is the wording of this beautiful passage of scripture: Christ taught that we should consider the lilies. The importance of the word consider relating to mediation is important here. I have found a calmness added to my life by including meditation in my routine. I do not do it everyday, but when I do there are no regrets. We live in such a fast-paced world that I fear the time it takes to meditate is severely swarmed by other less essential things. What if we were to mediate on this passage of scripture today? How would our lives be enriched? And what would ten minutes of this meditation really cause us to miss out on? Probably not much. More on meditation in future posts.

Here is a great hymn to illustrate this passage of scripture.