Water Lillys

?

Anchored, as they are, in the slime and sludge of a pond bottom, it would seem that a water lily should produce brown flowers. Contrary to expectation, however, their flowers are pristine white, resting on a field of green. They are one of the most beautiful of flowers, worthy of time spent enjoying its simple but elegant lines and the purity of its white.

?

We, lilies-in-the making, anchored in the muck and mire of this world, in the detritus of our own making, do not gather our sustenance from the waste of the world, but from things of air and light and cloud and rain, things above. We are in the world, but not of the world, yet, we are planted so very firmly, in the chaos and evil of the world. We cannot escape it, we cannot evade it. By plan, or rather by the Plan of the Planner, this is where we are. Without the mire and muck, we would not, could not, become the Lillys toward which He is maturing us. Though it is counter-intuitive, it is, somehow, the environment into which He planted us. We dwell, not in angel land but in messy, dirty, stinky human land—by His foreknowledge and grace. For where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. (Romans 5:20

?

3/28/23

?

?