"Consider the lilies," Jesus said last week in the gospel lesson. Somehow he thought this would ease our anxieties. As usual he opens a new world with one sentence.

Since then I started to savor the late November irises and hydrangeas and marigolds on our neighborhood walk. I picked up an orange Spaulding "Never Flat" basketball and shot hoops with Michal under a soft blue sky: Swish! I got caught in the rain after dark and felt the gentle coolness in my hair, on my face, a blessing I hadn't known I needed until it felt so good.

This morning I consider a tangle of beautiful black branches reflected on the silver surface of a pond. Tatters of brown leaves show up in the reflection also. There they are, quiet and peaceful. I gaze at them, and so am I.