Clothed in His Righteousness

My oldest daughter loves to garden. Each spring her deft fingers infuse life back into our winter-worn garden. She selects each plant with care, methodically prepares the ground for planting, and deposits the plants exactly where she wants them.

When she is home from her studies abroad, our garden is always filled with colorful blooms. Early one winter morning she dashed into my bedroom and showed me a picture she had taken on her phone of a lily that was still blooming in our garden.

The time for blooming was over. But there, in the far corner of our decaying garden, surrounded by dead leaves, was the lily with its bright orange bloom.

For the next two weeks, the lily stood firm and resplendent despite the onslaught of the icy winter days, defiantly making a statement: in the midst of decay, there is life. Caught up in admiration over the beauty and fortitude of the lily, contemplating the source of its strength, and remembering God’s promise in Matthew 6:28–30, I found a spiritual application. Consider the lily, how God cares for it and gives it strength to withstand the battering of the elements. He promises to do that and more for us. There are times, however, when we forget God has “fearfully and wonderfully made” us in His likeness and has beautifully adorned us (Psalm 139:14, NIV). We are radiant symbols of hope that God has strategically planted just for this purpose. Like the lily, we can stand strong, elegant, and courageous even when surrounded by the harsh realities of life. When burdens threaten to crush us and giving up seems our only option, God sends messages of hope and reminds us He has not abandoned us.

Our lily eventually took its place among the dead plants, but its message is immortalized within me. In the winter of our lives, we can find hope in Christ.

The One who took the time to beautifully design the flowers clothes us in His righteousness and displays us as symbols of hope for others to see.

Thank You, God, for doing for us “exceedingly abundantly” more than we can ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20, NKJV). We are filled with gratitude and praise.

Joan Dougherty-Mornan