The Lily

 A meditation: how my little lily inspired my bravery.

As I was sitting rather restlessly in my living room one day, my roving eyes landed on my lily – my single lily bud blooming in her vase. She was beautiful, and it was in that moment that I realized just how much I love lilies: they are bold, they are beautiful, and yet they possess an innocence in the way that they spread their petals so robustly to the world around them. They’re so vulnerable – so trusting in the way they unfold themselves before the sky.

My lily, perched on her long, slender stem gracing my long, slender vase had opened her face to the ceiling, tilting herself ever so slightly toward the sunlight that streamed through my glass door.

As I studied her, it seemed to me that there was a strength in her that I should imitate – an attitude of courage that I should draw from her courage. And while I was gazing at her, I envisioned a field of lilies turning towards the sky – whole bunches of them brave enough to greet the host of stars hiding behind the day’s blue hues. And I wondered… what kind of life do they receive from the light-filled sky? Is it merely a process of photosynthesis? Or is it something more? Is there a vitality they receive from their creator that we don’t know about? I’m not sure. But sitting in my living room I knew I wanted to be more like my lily – more willing to open myself up to uncertainty, emulating her brave vulnerability.

Maybe there’s a host of angels up there – maybe they are looking down at me from behind the starlit night, waiting for me to receive what I was created for…

And maybe, as the lilies in those fields open their star-like faces to the heavens, I should lift my heaven-made face to the stars, opening my heart to willingly, to trustingly, receive life.

The featured image is by Nalaka Thalagala on Unsplash. We are grateful for such generosity!

Christina Brown

A founding member of The Cultivating Project, Christina has been fascinated by beauty her whole life. Color, texture, pattern, fragrance, melody, light – all of the boundless ways in which creation shines – ignites her imagination, compelling her to create. Even as a wee sprite, Christina was dedicated to wordsmithing and sketching her way through its marvels in an attempt to capture, at least partially, the imprint of the Creator within it. But writing and drawing are not her only creative endeavors; several years ago she took on the laborious (but rewarding) task of nurturing a garden in the dismal soils of the Rocky Mountain foothills, and has eagerly employed her spade (alongside her pen) as a tool to cultivate and curate the beauty around her. 

She has two little gardeners-in-training who embody all these marvels and more in their merry little faces. She and her husband Brian are the founders of the Anselm Society based in Colorado Springs, whose mission and calling is a renaissance of the Christian Imagination. She serves as the Director of the Anselm Society Arts Guild and her creative work can be found at LiveBeautiful.today and on Instagram.