The Lilies of the Field

“So do not worry abut tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:34 NRSV

“It is what it is.”

The earliest written reference to this idiom dates back to 1949 according to the New York Times. The phrase appeared in a column written by J.E.Lawrence in the Nebraska Starts Journal.“New land is harsh, and vigorous, and sturdy. It scorns evidence of weakness. There is nothing of sham or hypocrisy in it. It is what it is, without apology” quotes.yourdictionary.com. It has risen in popularity since then, especially in the 1990s and through the 2000s, even spawning the hit song Que sera, sera, [Whatever will be, will be] that was sung by Doris Day in the 1950s. Even though this saying has become more and more popular, I know that there are people out there who don’t like it for a variety of reasons. It is too glib. It is pessimistic. It is just an excuse, etc., etc.

My answer to them is no to all of the above. For me it is perhaps the hardest truth out there to accept. It sounds both trite and like an excuse, a way around looking at reality. I heard a sermon not that long ago where one of the point being made by the preacher was the we all try to live the reality we want, instead of living the reality that is. This idiom zeroes right into that because if we accept what it is saying, we can no longer pretend that reality is something else. Yes, we all have our illusions but illusions are just that, [as the dictionary says], ‘an idea or belief that is not true’. And while these illusions might be our preferred way of going in the world, they will never form a solid base to help us deal with the vicissitudes that life throws our way.

We have all heard read in church at one time or another the verses about the Lilies of the field “…Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil or spin” Indeed one of the favourite children’s song when I was growing up was “God Sees the Little Sparrow Fall’ which references this verse. But do we remember what follows just four verses later in Matthew 6.34 where it says the vernacular of The Message bible “Give your attention to what God is doing right now and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes”

In other words ‘It is what it is’ is just putting that Biblical wisdom into a memorable phrase that asks us to live in the present, to acknowledge, deal with, and appreciate what is happening in our lives right NOW and right HERE. We are not reliving the events of the past, which have come and gone, or looking forward to the future that hasn’t arrived yet. We are asked to deal right now with our reactions, our feelings, and our reality.

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