“Walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never prim or shop, but have you ever seen color or design like that?” (Matthew 6:28 MSG)
I haven’t seen any fields of wildflowers in recent weeks. It’s mid-October and the summer flora have gone to seed. But, the other day my daughter and I made a quick trip to College Station and spied a cotton field along the way. It was spectacular: a brown and green array of stems and leaves punctuated by brightest bolls of white. All of it swayed in the breeze under the most brilliant blue and white sky. We passed the first field and I resisted the urge to stop, spurred on by the impatience of my daughter. “They’ll still be there later, Mom. We can stop on the way back.”
We flew by a second field – the speed limit is 70 on a two lane in Texas. But by the third field, I was done in by the beauty. I simply could not keep driving by such an impressive display. I had to stop and consider the cotton. I pulled my little station wagon off into the next field entrance and announced my intentions. My daughter could stay in the car, but I was going to examine the field. She sighed the way fifteen year olds do when their folks are insistent and we both climbed out of the car. Our effort was immediately rewarded, we were enthralled by the beauty of a cotton field ready for picking. We wondered aloud how something so pure and soft and white can grow from the dirt and sun. Yet look how God tends such fragile plants! How much mores does He tend to our lives?
Sometimes, my friends, we need to stop and and smell the cotton. We need to take five minutes on the roadside of life and make meager attempt to absorb a bit of the beauty that this world is inundated with. These small moments will feed our soul as we consider a plant that grows and dies and gives itself over and over to clothe our frames. All of this is designed, seeded and nurtured by our loving Father. He placed cotton fields everywhere, figuratively, as pause points to make us wonder, to fill us with awe and appreciation for His gracious provision and endless imagination.
“If God give such attention to the appearance of wildflowers – most of which are never seen – don’t you think He’ll attend to you, take pride in you,
do His best for you?” (Matthew 6:30 MSG)
Lord, thank You for the fields of cotton: beauty beyond measure laced throughout our life here on earth. Your attention to detail and imagination are awesome. We revel in Your nature and delight in Your creation. We can trust that if fields receive this level of focus, so will we. Thank You for dreaming up, planting and tending to us. We are delighted by the work of Your hands. Amen.