Considering the Lilies

Do you ever have days when you can't seem to concentrate on the task at hand?  This is how I felt earlier today.  My lack of concentration was likely a confluence of things:  It's Ash Wednesday.  I'm reading a thoughtful book.  I'm worried about a colleague.  I've got a couple of ideas from clergy group kicking around in my head.  It's raining.  The Shrove Tuesday pancakes were delicious, but I couldn't sleep last night.  A friend is extremely ill. 

It's worry, it's joy, it's balance of tensions, it's exhaustion, it's gratefulness, it's grief, it's sorrow for my sins.  It's all of that.  What do you do when your mind is racing?  I don't have magic answers, but  sometimes when I can't think I wonder if the Holy Spirit is inviting me to concentrate on something else.

And later today I got that something else from a church member.

When I returned from a meeting there were flowers on my desk.  One of the congregants picked these beauties from her garden following the Ash Wednesday service.  They're lilies.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ... 

I enjoy flowers, but I can't say I've ever considered them.  Today in considering the lilies I am reminded of the newness of God's mercies.   I am reminded of the blossoms of grace in my own life.  I am reminded of cheerfulness a gift can bring.   I am reminded of the intricacies of God's creation. I am reminded of the simple beauty of the Creator.

It might be a holy coincidence.  It might not be.  Either way I am grateful.