By a Pond in Rome

We were sitting beside a bonfire roasting marshmallows and she was telling me about her trip. She had just returned from spending a month in Rome, Italy. I listened as she describes the art galleries and the cathedrals she had seen. She had seen Bernii's delicate marble Apollo and Daphne and his determined David. She had seen Michelangelo's artistic talent revealed as she gazed up at the Sistine Chapel. I could see the bonfire reflected in her glasses but I smiled because as I looked into her eyes I could tell she was seeing in her mind the work of the Masters.

What a dream trip for an artist to get to spend a month in Rome, Italy! I listened for a while and then I asked, "Did you have a favorite place in Rome?" She smiled shyly and said, "Yes," then she told me about a little park she had found that had a small pond. By this little pond she could sit and quietly reflect on all the places she had been and the things she had seen. As she gazed into the pond she could see the reflection of the sky and her heart felt at peace.

As I listened to her I thought about what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, "Consider the lilies, 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."(Luke 12:27) Jesus made the statement that the splendor with which King Solomon clothed himself could not compare with beauty of the wild flowers that God clothed the grass in. My friend had found the same thing to be true when she sat drinking in the peace and beauty that she found by the Roman pond.

What was the message behind this comparison Jesus gave us? What was the point He was making? I find the answer to these question in the previous verses, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life" (Luke 12:22) The beauty and glory of God's creation are to be a constant reminder to me that I don't have to live a life marked by worry. But you know what my problem is? I don't take the time to consider the beauty of the Master that surrounds me.

Heavenly Father, I don't have to travel to a foreign land to see the splendor of creation. Today may my heat be at peace as I consider that You, who clothe the grass with such beauty, which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, love me.