consider the lillies

My mother enrolled me in piano lessons when I was four years old with a wonderful lady named Jan Smith. I've recently been trying to find her to just reach out and call and let her know how things are going as it's been many, many years since I have heard from her. She took me on as a student much earlier than she liked to, but the prerequesites were that I had to be able to say my ABC's and read. Maybe I was borderline on that one because I feel that music is the first thing I learned to read prior to words. I still have this knack to pull up a sheet of music and just read it, and it feels very second nature to me.

There were countless recitals and performances with this teacher, and sadly I had to move away at the transitional age of twelve where I silently fell apart in a new school. I had a new piano teacher, too, but she was no Jan Smith. Yes, this new teacher was classically trained and impressive. She demanded perfection, short fingernails, and logged hours of practice. It was with her that fell out of love with the piano music I had once loved. When someone is forcing you to do something, sometimes love disappears. It's no longer freewill of learning and creativity but a prison and negative reinforcement. I've never been the type of child or adult that operated well on negative criticism. I can remember my second piano teacher ask me sharply, "Did you practice this week? I can tell you didn't. Your nails are too long. You sound horrid."

Nope. I didn't strive for excellence with her. I did with Jan Smith. Ms. Smith taught me how to fill in and play by ear. She let me write my own music (in my head) and just play it for her after doing the normal lesson. It didn't hurt either that she had a houseful of very handsome boys who all doted on me. (laugh)

One of the songs I played in church was called, "Consider the Lillies." This song was taught to me by Jan Smith where I toyed around with the chords and added in a lot of stuff. All of that made me feel super confident playing it front of what I thought was a large audience. In hindsight, it was just a small country pentecostal church with about 100 members. The lyrics:

Consider the lilies; they don't toil or spin,
But there's not a king with more splendor than them.
Consider the sparrows; they don't plant nor sow,
But they're fed by the Master who watches them grow.

We have a Heavenly Father above
With eyes full of mercy and a heart full of love.
He really cares when your head is bowed low;
Consider the lilies, then you will know.

May I introduce you to this Friend of mine
Who hangs out the stars, tells the sun when to shine.
And kisses the flowers each morning with dew,
Oh, but friend, He's not too busy to care about you!

We have a Heavenly Father above
With eyes full of mercy and a heart full of love.
He really cares when your head is bowed low;
Consider the lilies, then you will know.

Consider the lilies, then you will know.

Which is directly taken from:

Luke 12:22-31 (New American Standard Bible)

22And He said to His disciples, "For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.

23"For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

24"Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!

25"And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life's span?

26"If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?

27"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

28"But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!

29"And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not (G)keep worrying.

30"For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.

31"But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Great verses for these times of recession. If the lillies are considered how much more are we?