Consider the Lilies

I prefer to visualize tiny but sweet and lovely lilies of the valley, not bold, showy tiger lilies.

I'm not a Bible thumper, but certain Scripture readings stick with me. Especially this one, which I noted in my Mead black and white marble composition notebook on Sunday, July 19, 2009 and recently came across again:

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these [Matt. 6:28-29].

Yesterday was a busy day, H.'s 53rd! birthday, plus writing, research and interview deadlines with what my savvy niece Leah might call a "hard stop" [no wiggle room]. I took almost two hours off to go have sushi in Montclair with H. and Figgy....fun! But otherwise, I worked from 1:15 P.M. to 7:15 P.M. and then from 9ish P.M. to 5 A.M. I didn't expect to pull an all-nighter but one detail led to another and another and another to add, vet or delete, hone or craft, and so it was.

As I kept my shoulder to the grindstone, the notebook was open beside me. To keep me grounded, to help me focus and to remind not to toil or spin, just to be and grow as I worked.