Consider the Lilies

"Before I play you this next song, let me give you the back story." said the nervous songwriter as he sat in my office.

"It's really good." he says, "and it's true."

I smile from across the desk, and encourage him to share it, 'Alright, well let's hear it.'

"Well you see, the guy that I wrote the song with, his son died a tragically in a car accident  at 18. It hit the family really hard. As the family is getting home from the funeral, the mother is putting some bags down and notices something strange outside the back window. There, in the middle of the yard, growing in between sand and rock, is a giant, fully-bloomed, white lilly. In all the years the family had, had the house, nothing had grown in that patch of land, not even grass- so she was shocked to see the flower."

She called her husband and holding hands, they thought of the Lily as a sign from their son.

Well, the next day, mom gets home and looks out the window again - and to her surprise 5 Lilies were growing in a circle around the original lily. The original lily's petals had closed while the 5 surrounding it were in full bloom and open.

Frightened, she reaches for the house phone to call her husband when the house phone rings. She answers. It's a nurse from the hospital calling to thank her and report that her son's organs had been used that day to save or improve the lives of 5 patients.

The writer then played the song for me.

I asked him if flowers had continued to grow in that patch of rock and sand. No. Those lilies are the only thing that's ever grown there.