Consider the Lillies

 

I am a heathen, never christened, leaning towards agnosticism, and yet I've always enjoyed the King James Version of the Bible. A passage I particularly like is from Matthew 6:28-29:

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Over the past four months, as Covid has kept us at home, many of us are toiling less, and I know only a few people who are spinning -- except for some spinning of our wheels. Instead, most of us have spent a good deal of time simply thinking and reflecting. Many of us seem to feel we have changed as a result and, when I question friends about this, they say something like this: “We’ve had more quiet time to live in the moment. We’ve been able to just let things be, and that’s helped us recognize what’s really important.”

We’ve become mindful. I used to think that practicing mindfulness was a bit woo woo, but now I find that taking the time to pay attention to the present moment helps me to get in touch with my thoughts and emotions. It helps me to become more curious about and more concerned with those around me.  It encourages me to be kind, be calm, and be safe. And to be more compassionate.

Many professionals have written about the benefits of mindfulness in helping us cope with the stresses of the pandemic and our fears about what is yet to come: https://theconversation.com/practising-mindfulness-can-help-us-through-the-coronavirus-pandemic-140617

I may not be arrayed like a lily of the field, but I am learning to be calm, which helps me to carry on. Perhaps I will become more like my granddaughter’s little dog who, coincidentally, is named Lily, and who has a great ability to live in the present.

The above passage from Matthew goes on to say:

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.

Those words seem to speak to the importance of attending to and making the most of the present moment. Which, we are learning, is the one thing of which we can be certain.