It was my day off, and as usual I had more on my “to do” list than I could accomplish in a week. Stop here. Stop there. Drop this off. Talk to that person. Go to the bank. Rush in. Rush out. As I worked my way down the list one of my stops was at a local greenhouse to buy spring flowers to plant around our house. I stopped and rushed into the greenhouse.

 At first, I slowed down because there were so many different kinds of flowers from which to choose. Wow…so many different colors and sizes. Then someone behind me said, “Hi, Brian.” It was a friend I hadn’t seen for years. She asked me about our children. After giving her an update I asked her about hers. As we went on our ways and I focused back on the flowers I realized I was enjoying the beauty of the flowers and the quiet of the greenhouse. There was only the hum of the overhead fans. Then I thought about taking the flowers home and planting them with my six-year-old daughter when she got home from school. All of a sudden I didn’t want to rush the planting of the flowers. It seemed like I should just relax, slow down, enjoy the beauty of the flowers, and enjoy planting them with my daughter. I did.

Jesus was talking about how to “not worry” when he said, “Consider the lilies of the valley. They do not labor or spin” (Luke 12:27). There is something about flowers and beauty in general that seems to cause worry and anxiety to leave. I like to say it this way: Beauty feeds your soul.