Wildflowers

“If He takes care of the wildflowers, if He purposes when they’ll grow and when they’ll fall, if He clothes them in vibrant colors, if He creates them for His pleasure to point upward toward Him, ever reaching for Him, how much more will He do these things for me? For you?”

“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? …See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin…. 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… But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  

(Matthew 6:26-33 ESV).

My kids and I were outside soaking up all the sun we could on the most beautiful day during Spring Break this week. I sat in my lay out chair as my daughter, Avery, picked wildflowers out of our neighbor’s yard. When she spotted them (which took all of .3 seconds upon stepping outside), she raced to retrieve them. She was delighted to bring me fistfuls of yellow flowers, roots still attached. She thinks they are beautiful, and because she loves them, I love them too. And on this day, the Lord used my sweet girl and her handful of wildflowers to speak peace into my heart.

I have been a closet writer for most of my life, mostly tucking my thoughts away in folders on my phone, protected behind a passcode. But I have always dreamed of giving it to the Lord for Him to use. I have prayed fervently for God to open doors, but lately, I have battled some discouragement as I desperately wait for a “yes” regarding an opportunity. I have never been good at the waiting part of any process. There have been many, many moments in my life where I have failed to wait. Instead, I believed if I could strive enough, then I could reach the things for which my heart longed. It has never been best, though. On this particular day, while surrounded by squeals and laughter, my mind was elsewhere, wandering down rabbit holes and what if’s. I spent some time in Matthew 6 (I encourage you to as well). Then I closed my eyes behind my sunglasses and prayed: “God I don’t want to labor. I don’t want to spin. I really want to trust you. I want to remember your timing is best. I don’t want to have ‘little faith.’ I want to be content in You and serve where You have me for now, for always.” 

I sent a text to my pastor’s wife. You know her- the person you can trust with your deepest, most vulnerable prayer needs. And as soon as I hit send, my sweet little girl said “Mama, I am coming down to give you a hug.”

So odd. She was smack dab in the middle of creating an elaborate town with her brother in the back of the side-by-side, caught up in the imagination and wonder of childhood. But I welcomed her little arms around my neck. How did she know that at that very moment her mom needed a tangible embrace?

The tears began to roll down my cheek. I tried to quickly wipe them away, but my girl is quick. And y’all, there in the sunlight, my 4-year-old ministered to my heart.

Avery: “Mama, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Me: “Oh, Mama is just thinking a lot today. I am a little worried about something.”

Avery: “What you worried about, Mama?” *as she rubs my cheeks between her two puffy little hands

Me: “Well, I just want to do something for Jesus. I really want to write for Him. And I am worried that maybe I won’t really get the chance to.”

Avery: “Mama, you are! You can write! You can write about Jesus in my froggy notebook, ok?”

Oh my. 

Her words stick with me now. “Mama, you are!” No hesitation. No doubt in her mind. Avery sees me reading in my bible and writing about it several times a week. In her mind, of course I am a writer. Of course I can write about Jesus. And if I need to borrow her miniature notebook with the friendly green frog on the front, then so be it. Problem solved. 

Here is what God showed me on this beautiful day: if he takes care of the wildflowers, if He purposes when they’ll grow and when they’ll fall, if He clothes them in vibrant colors, if He creates them for His pleasure to point upward toward Him, ever reaching for Him, how much more will He do these things for me? For you?

The passage in Matthew 6 is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The conclusion of the passage gives us the cure for worry: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” No laboring. No spinning. No frantic solving. No worrying. 

Seek the Lord. That’s it. Isn’t it so simple? Isn’t it so freeing? No wonder the birds of the air soar, free from the weight of sowing and reaping. No wonder the wildflowers reach for the sky, free from the burden of self-dependence. The Father in Heaven knows their needs. How much more does He care for yours and mine? 

Sometimes we wait. And while I struggle with it, the waiting isn’t wasted. In fact, it is probably crucial to His plan. I am here for it. Here for His provision. Here for His plan. Even if it means I wait. And until He reveals the next step, I will be like a wildflower- existing simply to point toward Jesus, growing because of His care.

I took one of the wildflowers my daughter picked and pressed it today. It’ll be my reminder lest I forget. Maybe you are also waiting on a “yes.” Maybe you are also striving, fixing, spinning.  May you find your own wildflower, and may it remind you of God’s unwavering faithfulness while you wait.

“…I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait…the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise.”- C.S. Lewis