Prayer Beside Lily Pads

Sitting by the lake, 
your peace rolls in, 
rippling rows 
dancing with 
the water lilies. 
They soak in sunshine, 
pale yellow arms 
reaching up 
into light, 
their green pads 
waltzing with waves. 

I watch and wait, 
my soul-petals lifted, 
loving you 
and your creative love 
of little things— 
like lily pads,  
like me. 

I am home in Detroit now—it was a long day yesterday, cleaning up from vacation and driving south. But that time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula brought wonderful gifts as we spent restful time in the forest by the  lake with family.

 And creation was singing, bringing to mind truths that strengthen and comfort me.

I sat beside the lake alone for an hour while all the others were out boating. I was chilly since the wind was blowing. Our Slater family Chalet is near the lagoon of Piatt Lake, and the unexpected thrill of dancing lily pads a few feet away  was worth a long watch-and-listen moment.

This meditation on creation and God’s attention to detail calms me now as I step back into the busyness of normal life at home. I am grateful!

The poem brings these Scriptures to mind—may they encourage you as they do me:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. (Ps. 37:7 NIV)

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Ps. 46:10 NIV)

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  (Gen. 1:11,12 NIV)

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  (Gen. 1:27 NIV)

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (Job 33:4 NIV)

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (Matt. 10:30 NIV)

The intricacies of the water lilies, the fresh air breathing on them and on me, the complexity of my body and soul: Yes! The Creator, Yahweh, made them all!

¹³ For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.  (Ps. 139:13-17 ESV)

These truths are for you too—he made you, he knows you, he gives you life. Be still and contemplate his meticulous attention to who you are and to the beauty of his creation. Be still and be soothed with wonder!