"...Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin....
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these..." The Lord Jesus - Matt 6:28-29.

How They Grow

CM

I look upon the wild lilies,
And admire how they grow,
Across the ridges and gullies,
And valleys down below.

But 'tis this I most consider,
Where their flow'rs brightly glow;
And speaks within me now louder -
How do the lilies grow?

When we look upon wild lilies,
Remember what they show;
Whether in the hills or valleys,
Or the fields all aglow;

Still to consider these lilies,
And love their beauty so;
Then, should we not first consider
Why they this glory show?

'Tis to show they are God's planting,
His care is all they know;
Their growth and beauty His granting,
And all to Him they owe.

By man's hand they are not planted,
There, row upon the row;
Whose great beauty can't be painted
Which bear not man's furrow.

They take no thought for the morrow,
Yet, still in beauty grow;
They anticipate no sorrow,
No anxiousness they know;

Still, they drink God's rain from heaven,
His breeze on them doth blow;
And His sun from morn to evening,
Makes these wild lilies grow.

His dew at night distills on them,
Where they house the sparrow;
While above the heaven's rhythm,
Their light on them does throw.

Here man may bring forth his beauty,
With his labor and toil;
-Render to God all his duty
In this vain world's old soil;

But, Oh, in wild nature's beauty,
Which does not plant and sow,
But, which still performs her duty,
In this good earth below;

And all of Solomon's glory,
Which half could not be told;
Is but a mere allegory -
Could not this beauty hold;

As in Eden's garden, planted,
Her beauty still doth show;
When, yet untransplanted,
No suffering to know;

- When before she gained the knowledge
Of sin and death to know;
When before her ruin and spoilage,
In God's Garden below;

We now hear these words of Jesus,
Himself, a Lily grew;
His grace, from toil does release us,
Though, toil and stress too knew;

As The Lily of the valley,
The Bright and Morning Star;
Shall arise in glory early,
Who've seen His Light afar;

He returned us to God's Garden,
With Divine Grace to show;
Though pain, toil and sin did harden,
Still makes His lilies grow.

I admire the lilies glory,
When through the fields I go;
Still, it is my theme and story
To tell the way they grow;

They shine forth their Maker's Glory
- Their own they do not know;
It's their passive oratory
- In telling how they grow.

*Copyright 2001

O. Allen Bailey

*This material may be freely copied and distributed, but shall not be altered or sold.