Consider the lilies....

This morning, as the sun was rising, I wandered out into my garden to survey its beauty.  As  I literally watched the lilies come to life, I sang songs of praise and thanksgiving for all the Lord has given me.  Everything is so beautiful that just observing what is growing makes me want to pray.

When I came to my desk and turned the calendar page, I read this:

"Consider the lilies," said the Master.  Truly, there is no more prayerful business than this "consideration" of all the flowers that grow.  And in the garden, they are planted especially to feast the souls that hunger for beauty, and within doors as well as without, they delight the spirit of man.

----Celia Thaxter

Reading that after my morning stroll through the garden sent me straight to Solomon's Song of Songs to re-read some of my favorite verses:

My lover has gone down to his garden,

to the beds of spices,

to browse in the gardens

and to gather lilies.

I am my lover's and he is mine;

he browses among the lilies.....

I went down to the grove of nut trees

to look at the new growth in the valley,

to see if the vines had budded

or the pomegranates were in bloom.

Before I realized it,

my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people....

Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside,

let us spend the night in the villages.

Let us go early to the vineyards

to see if the vines have budded,

if their blossoms have opened,

and if the pomegranates are in bloom--

there I will give you my love.....

Lover:  You who dwell in the gardens

with friends in attendance,

let me hear your voice!

I guess all of us have seen the garden sign that reads something to the effect that in the garden, we are closer to God's heart than anyplace else on earth.  C. S. Lewis, in his autobiography, tells of his very first intimation of joy, when he was seven years old.  His older brother had constructed a miniature garden of stones and twigs on a platter.  When Lewis saw it, his heart was filled with something he could not name, but as he grew older, he recognized the same feeling at times when he was out of doors and observing nature.  Later, he wrote that this unnamed hunger for beauty was the thing that led him to Christ and Christianity. 

Lewis reasoned that if the heart had a hunger for joy, then there must be an object that satisfies that hunger.  As a man who thirsts for water indicates that we are creatures meant to receive water, so our spiritual hungers also must have their proper objects that satisfy our hunger.  Satisfying our souls with the beauty of nature is the first step for many toward God.  As I wrote yesterday, Matthew Vermuti, even as a child, was attracted to religious art and to music, attractions that ultimately led him to the spiritual life and to God.

When we experience great beauty, when we are still and peaceful, when we are overcome by joy, let us sing to the Creator of heaven and earth.  He wants to hear our voice!  That is why He draws us with cords of beauty and of love.