Flowers of the Field

 

 

 Slate gray clouds settle like a comforter over the distant hills. A spill of golden light gleams at the crest of the valley in the last lantern glow of sunset. Trees stretch and sway in the evening breeze. A little spray of wildflowers leaning on a fence catches my attention. Their buds are not yet bloomed, clenched tightly shut with only a hint of pink at each tip. But that’s not what has drawn me in for a closer look. Instead, it’s the little caterpillar creeping up this flower’s slender stalk. This tiny creature is festooned with deep orange, inky black and decadent sprays of dainty hairs from tip to end.

I smile. I love the tiny details in this world. The rich costumes of insects, the painstakingly ornate decorations on the smallest flower, the artistry on a bird’s plumage. They all point to the care and magnificence of God. And more than that, they remind me that if He takes enough time and attention to create beauty and perfectly provide for seemingly insignificant creatures like the caterpillar which I didn’t even notice the first few times I passed it, how much more can I trust him to care for me.

Today, in my time with God, I read these words:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 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? 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. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

It is so easy to worry and fret. It’s a default really. It’s east to believe God for big things or “important” things, but sometimes much harder to trust him for small things. Food, money for bills due this week, clothes, strength for today. But God reminds us even with silly little things, like caterpillars, to trust Him to perfectly provide for us as He provides for them.

We just need to trust him and set our minds and lives on His kingdom. He who clothes the caterpillar and birds and flowers can also care for me and you.