“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Parent feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” – Matthew 6:26-29 (NRSV, adapted)
For the last month, I’ve had Adele’s song, “I Drink Wine,” playing on repeat. The whole thing is a masterpiece, but mostly I’ve been singing the last line of the chorus like a Taizé chant:
“Everybody wants something, you just want me.”
My friend Sandy calls it being “pecked to death by ducks,” that feeling that everyone wants a piece of you, and no one is quite satisfied with the one they get. Those seasons when the well is dry. When the bucket is empty. When the last crumb of stale bread has been devoured and the flock turns its bills on you.
“Everybody wants something, you just want me.”
For years I’ve made Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount into something I needed to do. I turned “Do not worry” into “Stop worrying!” And then worried about my inability to do so. Jesus was another disappointed friend, another unsatisfied customer, another hungry mouth to feed.
But that’s wrong. Jesus is the hen who shelters us beneath her wings. Who clothes us with love. Who feeds us from an inexhaustible store. Jesus is the one to whom we can pray…
Prayer
“Everybody wants something, you just want me.”
