What the lilies of the field mean

If God so clothe the lilies of the field ... how much more will he clothe you, Oh you of little faith ...

So said Jesus in his famous Sermon on the Mount.

I always took this to mean not to worry about physical clothing and what physical clothing represents: my material needs.

But this never solved a puzzle: There are many followers of Jesus Christ who suffer physical privation. Also troubling was this: Some of them are much more at rest -- downright more joyous -- than me.

And they are probably more beautiful than me as well.

Ah ... Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these ...

So the point is not how much clothing one has -- because Solomon obviously had no need for pomp and regalia.

The point is how much glory -- and whose glory. Is it my glory (in which case I am never happy, because I all too often strive for it)?

Or is it the glory of God shining through, like it shines through the lilies of the field, whose regalia is simply given to them from the Life within.

So, Jesus was not talking about being clothed with Macy's.

He was talking about being clothed with Glory:

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Matthew 6.28-30 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. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Philippians 4.11 ... for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

1 Peter 1.6-8 ... though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with a joy unspeakable and full of glory...