Month: September 2023

What shall I wear? It’s not like I lack options. In fact, the opposite is true … I have so many choices that I don’t know where to start. I plan to drop into the gym later and need something that is neat enough to wear to a meeting (especially the top half … many of my meetings are online) yet stretchy enough to be suitable for the ‘older ladies gym’ (Curves) I frequent.

I’m not like that older lady at the gym who turned up in a bright orange T-shirt the other day on which was printed, ‘Gezellig – an untranslatable word’. Of course, I asked, “So what does ‘gezellig’ mean?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t know,” she replied. “I just buy gym gear from the op shop.” She doesn’t worry about what to wear.

Happily, another lady DID know what ‘gezellig’ meant. Her husband had been Dutch and he used that word often. It refers to a cozy, friendly, comfortable atmosphere. Many coffee shops, for example, are ‘gezellig’ but a dentist’s waiting room rarely is rarely ‘gezellig’.

But I digress. The point is this: Jesus told us NOT to worry about clothes! Or, by implication, other mundane minutiae of life, necessary though they be.

Flowers of the field

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.

Matthew 6:28-29 NIV

When Jesus spoke these words, he was sitting on a hillside preaching what we now call ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. Can you imagine him waving his arm about, pointing out the variety of little flowers amongst the grass on the hill on which his listeners sat?

Some translations refer to ‘the lilies of the field’ because the original Greek word κρίνα (krina) literally means a particular type of small wild lily.

The word translated ‘field’ in many translations like the NIV is interesting too. In fact, our English word ‘agriculture’ comes from the same root word from that which is used here – ἀγροῦ (agrou). Basically, we’re talking farmland.

As I understand it, Jesus isn’t referring to flashy flowers such as roses and hydrangeas that have been lovingly cultivated. No, he is pointing out the pretty weeds!

God clothes the grass

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 – you of little faith?

Matthew 6:30 NIV

I don’t know what happened to the pretty weeds of Jesus’ day, but I do know what happens to pretty weeds in my neighbourhood. I live in suburbia, and the pretty weeds that grow between the side of the road and the footpath get mown.

Just like that, all these pretty flowers will be beheaded!

Yet despite their short-lived beauty, God clothes the grass in spectacular fashion. How much more can we count on him to adequately provide for us?!

Food, drink and clothing

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.

Matthew 6:33 NIV

It’s not wrong to proactively provide for ourselves and our families. Indeed, some years after ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ was given, the apostle Paul would pen a letter in which he rebuked ‘the idle’. He even gave the early Thessalonian church a rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10 NIV).

But it IS wrong to obsess over food, drink and clothes. I think of the society in which I live, here in Australian suburbia. So many TV shows are based around food, and my social media feed is full of that too. (That probably reflects my browsing habits.) A recent challenging TV show (War on Waste – well worth watching) highlighted the dreadful waste in the fashion industry.

It’s not just pagans whose lives are consumed by questions of ‘What will we eat, drink and wear?’

We have far more significant things to focus upon – God’s kingdom and righteousness. Let THAT be the object of our concerns and may it be reflected in our social media feeds too.

Therefore, don’t worry

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34 NIV

“Therefore do not worry….”, said Jesus. What is the ‘therefore’ there for? As Jesus spoke those words, what preceded the ‘therefore’ was Jesus’ gesturing to the flying birds and pretty weeds of his day.

“Look at the birds of the air…. See how the flowers of the field grow.” Don’t worry. Don’t obsess over the basic necessities of life.

Our lives won’t be trouble free. Jesus himself experienced anything but trouble-free days during his time on earth. Opposition culminating in his arrest and crucifixion were part of Jesus’ everyday existence during his three years of public ministry.

But don’t worry about tomorrow. Just deal with what is in front of you today.

Lilies of the drain

Today I sat down to do work on my annual ‘spend estimate’ (essentially a budget, and something the agency through which I work helpfully requires of us). I had not realised until two days ago that our annual spend estimate is due in today, which was actually kind of helpful, as I would have procrastinated doing it until today anyhow.

I had also planned to write up this blog post today. I preached on this passage a few weeks ago, but hadn’t yet written it up. Two days ago, I meditated on this passage and drafted the blog post. However, the weather has been grey and my days have been full, so I hadn’t yet taken photos to illustrate it nor typed it up.

Today, after a morning of meetings, I finally 硬着头皮 (a Chinese proverb literally meaning that I ‘hardened the skin on my head’ ie just gritted my teeth and got on with an unpleasant task) and plugged through my ‘spend estimate’ paperwork. I promised myself a ‘weed admiration walk’ (taking pictures for this post) made even sweeter by a cafe coffee along the way as a reward for finishing my budget.

God is SO kind. Finances stress me out, even though year after year I enjoy God’s generous provision through his good people. I’ve never lacked anything I needed. In God’s providence, these past two days I have been thinking about ‘flowers of the field’ exactly at the same time as I focused on finances.

As if to emphasise the point, as I walked along, God even provided a magnificent picture of lilies growing out of a drain cover over a nearby drain. I felt his Spirit gently saying, “Consider the lilies of the drain. How much more do I care for you?”

But wait … there is more

Don’t worry … there is no more significant content to this blog post. But in just a short half hour walk (plus a coffee stop) on this spring afternoon, I enjoyed SO much beauty – too much to squeeze between the sections of this post. None of these photos are of flowers intentionally planted or cultivated. No, they all just happened to grow in empty spots by the roadside.

And so let me conclude with collages of beauty. Enjoy the pictures and sense the ‘gezellig’ (a cosy, comfortable and friendly feeling) that comes with being God’s dearly loved child.

If this is how he clothes the flowers on scraps of land besides the roads and footpaths of Melbourne, here today and beheaded by a lawnmower tomorrow, how much more will he care for us?

“Choose a painting, and I will add a Bible verse and have it mounted,” a Chinese friend said during my recent visit there. She had a roll of beautiful traditional style pictures. I picked out one with birds and flowers, two things I especially enjoy.

What verse would I choose? I prayerfully pondered this as I enjoyed a late afternoon walk in a park, the twitter of birds all about me. I felt God prompting me to choose a line from Matthew 6:26 – “Consider the birds….” Actually, the Chinese translation, 你们看那天上的飞鸟, literally means, ‘Look, you lot (‘you’ – plural), at those birds flying in the sky’.

My setting

As I pondered this passage of Scripture, I was in the middle of an almost month-long trip to China. I had three aims for the visit, two of which were being met rather well and a third which wasn’t … not that it really mattered. It was the first goal that weighed on my mind.

During this visit, I wanted … even needed … to refine my research topic for my doctoral studies back in Australia. At the end of this semester, I will finish taking subjects for the course. Starting early next year, I can begin a self-directed regimen of relevant reading and writing then embark on the research project properly. I anticipate that it will take four years of hard work to complete the research. So I want to choose the topic wisely.

The directors of the Doctor of Ministry program at my college had encouraged me to use this trip, in part, to seek God’s direction on the matter. They recommended that I institute daily practices of (1) a prayer walk (“Lord, what do you want me to see and hear?”) and (2) an evening examen (“Lord, where have I sensed your nudges today?”).

And so it was that I prayer walked around a Chinese park that day, asking, “God, what do you want me to see? What do you want me to hear?”

What I saw, and what I heard, were birds … blue-black magpie type birds, sparrows, pigeons, ducks and more.

The original setting

As I later prepared a Bible talk on this passage entitled, ‘Consider the birds’, I had cause to think more about the original setting in which Jesus uttered those words. Actually, Jesus probably pronounced these words in Aramaic, expressing the equivalent of the Greek phrase “ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.”

Greek was the ‘lingua franca’ in the eastern Mediterranean world at the time, hence being used for the written record of this account. Aramaic, however, was the language commonly spoken in Israel in Jesus’ day. I’m no student of Greek, but from Biblehub.com, I understand that these words of Jesus, as recorded by Matthew, literally mean something like, ‘Gaze intently, you lot (plural), at the birds flying in the sky.’

Jesus was sitting on a hill at the time, preaching what we now call ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. I imagine that he looked up to the sky and, observing small birds flitting about, or perhaps bigger birds soaring high on wind currents, said to his listeners, ‘Consider the birds….’

It wasn’t an isolated comment, but what he was about to say related closely to that which he had just been expounding upon … treasure in heaven, loving God and not money etc. This section of the Sermon on the Mount starts with the word ‘Therefore’ (Matthew 6:25), but space in this blog post is inadequate to explore all that.

Pointing to those flying birds, Jesus urged his listeners to refrain from worrying about the daily necessities of life. I pondered these words in my little backyard in Melbourne just a few days ago as I prepared that Bible talk on the topic. A pair of gorgeous crimson rosellas tweeted to one another in the tree above me.

Valued

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?

Matthew 6:26 NIV

God values us.

Us! His people! We are valuable to God.

Who are we in the sight of God? We are his precious children!

Of course that is no excuse for being lazy or irresponsible. It’s all about our attitudes. Jesus would go on to urge his followers to seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness rather than the daily necessities of life. But a key lesson that I gleaned from gazing at the birds is this: WE ARE VALUABLE TO GOD!

Managing our thought lives

Jesus went on to explain that his followers should focus their attention on his kingdom rather than worry about the minutiae of life which, if we are not careful, can become all consuming. I may yet devote another whole blog post to this, along with some further thoughts about the ‘flowers of the field’ (Matthew 6:28-34). Space is insufficient here.

One related point which I needed to think about, however, is this: As God’s people, we are to manage our thought lives in ways which reflect our status as valued children of the Almighty Father. It’s easier to speak or write about it than it is to actually do it.

Which is where the birds I see most days are helpful prompts. God feeds them. He cards for them. I am far more valuable to him than they are, beautiful though they be. Will worrying about this or that make any measurable difference to the outcome?

Stop it! (The unhelpful worry, that is.) Just stop it!

(I’m writing to myself here and not lecturing anybody else.)

Getting it right

Jesus had been talking about the way we so often worry about the basic necessities of life. Being a modern Australian woman from an affluent society, my ‘worries’ are perhaps a little less practical.

I had been worried about my research topic and ‘getting it right’. I was feeling the weight of responsibility even as I sought God’s direction. Pray about the topic – think over options – investigate possibilities … yes, that is appropriate. But worry about it? No.

As I prayer walked, I came across this beautiful old building (in the photo below), which is a storage place for ancient Buddhist texts. I set up my phone-camera to take a photo of the building silhouetted against the dusk clouds, but didn’t realise that I still had a three second self-timer enabled.

I held the phone-camera steady. Three – two – one … and just as the shutter clicked, a little bird flew into the picture.

Of what value was the bird? Look at its nicely rounded tummy, its strong healthy wings and its incredible aerodynamic design. Does the bird build ornate buildings to store its cultural heritage? Does it even plant and grow and reap the food it needs, let alone store crops for the winter?

Our heavenly Father feeds the birds. Are we not much more valuable than they?

(Mind you, I feel sorry for the birds when the weather is miserable and food is scarce. But I digress….)

Getting on with it

Could it be that God ‘sent a bird’ into my photo during that prayer walk? Stranger things have happened. I think of Bible stories in which God enabled a donkey to speak, directed a big fish to swallow a prophet, caused a vine to grow in a particular time and place and sent a worm to eat the vine.

And so I resolved to just get on with settling on a topic for the academic project without the accompanying attitude of worry about ‘getting it right’, not being adequately qualified, experienced or clever.

After all, who am I to embark on such a project?

I’ll tell you who I am … or more to the point, whose I am. I am God’s cherished child.

When I remember who I am and whose I am … in company with others … my worries fade into the background and I can get on with the task at hand.

Look intently, you all, at the birds flying in the sky

And stop worrying. What’s the point?

Instead, focus on God’s kingdom and his righteousness.

Consider how God cares for the birds. They don’t worry about planting, growing, harvesting and storing what they need to sustain life.

God cares for them. Aren’t we more valuable to him than birds?

————–

PS I still don’t have a final topic for my academic work approved but am getting close, and feel hopeful about it being useful to God’s kingdom and righteousness. Worrying hasn’t been helpful but the prayer walks and daily reflections have been, as well as discussions, written and face-to-face, with key people. I’m getting excited now.