Camas Lilies

a Poem by Lynn Ungar

Consider the lilies of the field,

the blue banks of camas opening

into acres of sky along the road.

Would the longing to lie down

and be washed by that beauty

abate if you knew their usefulness,

how the natives ground their bulbs

for flour, how the settlers’ hogs

uprooted them, grunting in gleeful

oblivion as the flowers fell?

And you—what of your rushed

and useful life? Imagine setting it all down—

papers, plans, appointments, everything—

leaving only a note: “Gone

to the fields to be lovely. Be back

when I’m through with blooming.”

Even now, unneeded and uneaten,

the camas lilies gaze out above the grass

from their tender blue eyes.

Even in sleep your life will shine.

Make no mistake. Of course

your work will always matter.

Yet Solomon in all his glory

was not arrayed like one of these.

Re-Vision

I invite you to read through this passage slowly and see what it provokes in your mind and heart - 

How lovely is your dwelling place,
    Lord Almighty!

My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
    Lord Almighty, my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
    they are ever praising you.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
    they make it a place of springs;
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion. (Psalm 84:1-7 NIV)

As I marinated my mind in this Psalm this week I wrote down in my journal how I was internalizing it and the vision it is inviting me into:

How blessed are those who dwell moment by moment with God in the loveliness of his dwelling! Their hearts and minds are that dwelling, captivated as they are by the vision and taste of God's goodness and greatness. This vision completely transforms their experience of reality as it gets filtered through the lens of God's pervasive and lovely presence. The key to interpreting my daily reality lies here. Whatever comes to me today, nothing can separate me from God's dwelling in Christ.

Jesus said, “Rethink your life in the light of the fact that the kingdom of the heavens is now open to all” (Matt 4:17, Dallas Willard paraphrase)

Even the desert experience (Valley of Baka, or Valley of Tears) can become flooded with springing fountains of life as tears are tenderly transformed into living waters, saturated with God's sufficiency. The one who dwells with God in trust is never separated from his care! Therefore they have nothing to fear, for in this world they go from strength to strength, from sufficiency to sufficiency. This is not prosperity as the world defines it, it is well-being of the soul, a deep rootedness in the safety and sufficiency of the Trinitarian God. The world is a perfectly safe place for me to be in light of the fact that the Lord is my good Shepherd, I lack no good thing.

And how blessed all those in whom you live,    whose lives become roads you travel;They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,    discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and    at the last turn—Zion! God in full view! (Ps 84:5-7 MSG)

(Cf. Ps 23; Jeremiah 17:5-8; Mark 1:15; Phil. 4:4ff)

What about you? What is God's invitation to you?