Consider the Lilies of the Field

A few years ago, as I was first starting to embrace being minimalist, I decided to go through our storage boxes one at a time- keeping what was essential and getting rid of the rest. As I got to our boxes of baby clothes and gear, I began to question why we had them. We had three or four huge bins of clothes that Adrie had grown out of, keeping them because we might need them again someday.

We knew in our hearts that there were more babies waiting to come into our lives, but I couldn’t fathom it happening while we lived in the current situation. I imagined that in some future time, we would be self-sufficient and independently wealthy, and then we would have another baby. That privileged little one would be the first of our children to have all new, fashionable, expensive clothes and gear.

But even if that didn’t happen, after four children, I knew that babies don’t really need much. And what’s more, who’s to say that the next baby would be a girl anyway? It was better to just send it on. Assuming the best, I kept one bin full of our favorite and sentimental items, and got rid of the rest.

No joke… two months later, we discovered that Pandy was on her way to our family. Honestly, I just laughed at the impeccable timing. We weren’t worried, really. I had given the items to friends and knew that they had been gifted to people who would enjoy them (or who would send them on to where they were needed). And we had plenty of time to get the things we needed for her.

Then the pandemic hit, and a few days before Pandy was born, we found out we had about 24 hours to get our affairs in order before the President of the United States asked everyone to go into quarantine. We weren’t quite filthy rich like I’d envisioned, and seeing as how I didn’t know when the quarantine would end- or what things would look like when it did- I rushed to the local thrift store and bought seven onesies and bottoms in each size for the first year of her life. I bought everything I needed for about fifty dollars.

“It was fifty dollars that you wouldn’t have needed to spend if you had only kept the bins!” I hear some of you shouting. And I agree, but hear me out. Shortly after Pandy was born, in the middle of the pandemic, a family friend gave us fifty dollars to help with things we needed for the baby. And once the quarantine let up a bit, around the time Pandy was turning one, just as we were starting to think about what we would do for the clothing gap between Pandy and Adrie, another friend gifted us a massive bag of girls clothes that had everything we needed.

I learned that God provides. There are wonderful people in the world who are willing and ready to be God’s angels- His hands here on Earth. We don’t always get to see how much we impact others by following simple promptings… I got to see it first hand, as those people blessed me.

Now fast forward to our move back to Utah. We had decided to leave most of the beds and furniture in California. It would be cheaper to replace everything when we got to our new place, and leaving it at my parents’ house would help provide sleeping space for all the grandkids when they visit. As we started to plan for life in our new home, we knew we needed to replace what we were leaving, and a lot more than that- beds, couches, a kitchen table… we were basically starting from scratch. But we also knew we could do without it all for a bit; even if it meant sleeping in sleeping bags and sitting on the floor for a few months. It was worth it as we built a home for ourselves again.

We decided it would be fun to surprise Ben’s family and move in before telling them we were coming back. Thanksgiving was already in the plans and our move date was only a week before then. How fun would it be to just not tell them, until we were there in person. I also had a good friend who lived in the area that we were not planning on surprising, so I texted her to tell her the great news.

She was a rockstar. We hadn’t expected any help, but within twenty-four hours she texted me, “I found you a dresser, crib, and some kitchen utensils. I should be able to find the rest before you get here.” As the week went on she found us nearly all the furniture we were in need of, including couches, book shelves, and mattresses so we wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor. She had posted our situation on her local Buy Nothing Facebook group, and people offered all the items we were looking for for free.

Before we knew it, the moving day arrived. When you imagine a move (or think of one you’ve done yourself), I’m sure you think of a big moving truck and a huge host of people walking to and fro, lifting heavy furniture and packing odds and ends into tiny spaces to make everything fit. That’s been most moves I’ve been a part of (including my own). This time was different.

Our moving crew was a total of three adults- Ben, me, and one of our good friends- and our five children. We rented a little 6×12 trailer and hitched it to the back of our medium-sized SUV. It looked tiny, but for what we were taking with us, it was plenty big. There just wasn’t much to take. We filled it in less than an hour, and by late morning, we were on our way.

We stopped halfway to rest at a cheap hotel, and the next afternoon- less than three weeks after calling the landlord for the first time- we drove up to our miracle apartment. It was better than we imagined.

We met our landlord, got our keys, signed final papers, then started to unload the trailer… which took about half an hour. With our few belongings scattered around the living room, it was starting to feel real.

Side note- we had only seen the apartment once before in a slightly blurry FaceTime video walkthrough, and we honestly weren’t exactly sure what to expect. Let me tell you- our three bedroom, one bathroom apartment is perfect.

We live close to the freeway, but far enough away that we can’t hear it. The apartment is located in a quiet cul-de-sac within walking distance of a market, a park, the library, a large shopping center, and next door to a community theatre! There are sweet neighbor children for our kiddos to play with and a friendly neighborhood community.

Back to the story- that night, my sister-in-law made us dinner and prepared places for us all to spend the night at their house. The next day my friend met us at our home to bring the furniture and a crockpot dinner. Within a few hours, we had unpacked all our boxes, set up all the furniture, gone grocery shopping, and were ready to entertain some surprised guests.

See, when I said we wanted to surprise Ben’s family, I mean really surprise them. We had planned to be in Utah with Ben’s family for Thanksgiving, so they knew we were coming. We thought it would be a hoot if we met them all at this “cute, new place” we knew of that serves amazing hot chocolate. They agreed, we sent them the address, and then eagerly waited for their arrival.

Soon, the cars started to gingerly pull up. A few moments later, Ben was chatting on the phone with confused siblings and parents, asking if they had taken a wrong turn to the restaurant. As they got out of their cars, a bit perplexed, we greeted them, arms out wide, and invited them into our lovely, basically-fully-furnished new home for hot cocoa.

It was perfect- they were so happy for us. It’s one of my favorite memories. I seldom surprise people, mostly because I’m really bad at it. So this was super duper fun. My brother and his family were there as guests of honor to help us all celebrate this new chapter of life- one where we were once again self-sufficient, independent, grateful, and for the first time in a long time, happy. Genuinely happy.

LINK TO VIDEO OF THE SONG

“CONSIDER THE LILIES”

Consider the lilies of the field,

How they grow, how they grow.

Consider the birds in the sky,

How they fly, how they fly.

He clothes the lilies of the field.

He feeds the birds in the sky.

And He will feed those who trust Him,

And guide them with His eye.

Consider the sheep of His fold,

How they follow where He leads.

Though the path may wind across the mountains,

He knows the meadows where they feed.

He clothes the lilies of the field.

He feeds the birds in the sky,

And He will feed those who trust Him,

And guide them with His eye.

Consider the sweet, tender children

Who must suffer on this earth.

The pains of all of them He carried

From the day of His birth.

He clothes the lilies of the field,

He feeds the lambs in His fold,

And He will heal those who trust Him,

And make their hearts as gold.

He clothes the lilies of the field,

He feeds the lambs in His fold,

And He will heal those who trust Him,

And make their hearts as gold.

-Laurence Lyon, R. Hoffman