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In the many flower beds in our yard, one flower stands out as prominent and most prolific: the daylily. They vary in color, from yellow, orange, or multi-colored. Some are a foot tall while the old-fashioned ones stand nearly four feet tall. They are a hardy perennial, withstanding the cold of winter in their dormancy to the drought of late summer. With minimal care, they produce their blooms throughout the long, hot Southern season.
Although probably different from the lilies found in our flower gardens, the flower is mentioned several times throughout the Scriptures, especially in the love song of Solomon. Most bible students agree that the “lily of the valleys” in Song of Solomon 2:1 is a type of Jesus Christ. We sing the old song, “He’s the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star, He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.” Jesus used the natural growing lily to illustrate God’s providential care for us. “Consider the lilies, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Luke 12:27).
One characteristic of our daylilies and perhaps a sad one, is the short lifespan of the blooms. They last only a day, then wither away only to be replaced by another bloom the day after. The Lord uses a flower as a metaphor to describe the brevity of life. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:24–25)
As we enjoy the flower of the daylily today, let it remind us of the shortness of life and to make the very best of this day the Lord has made and to rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).
Jay Launius
Maud Church of Christ
Maud, TX