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The Noble Lily

A trio of inspirations…

When I first imagined this site, I wanted to come up with a unique name – something that would set it apart, but also something with meaning.  For years, I had pursued an interest in writing. I had started books, written short stories, essays, and poems, and dreamed of sharing my experiences with God via the written word.  I even started a book, with the working title “Glimpses of God”.  It will probably surprise no one that this title has been used numerous times. As has “God Moments”, “Experiencing God”, and a host of other ideas I had to reject.  It occurred to me that I needed something that was personal to me, like my name.  But what’s interesting, to other people, about a blog called “Patti”?  

That’s where the idea for Noble Lily started.  When I was a girl, I had an interesting relationship with my name. My mother very much wanted to name a daughter Patricia Suzanne, but others in my family did not like the name. She gave in to their wishes when she had my older sister, Cheryl Dawn, but when she became pregnant with me, Mama decided she would have her own way with this baby which was to be her last.  So while my sisters did not care for my name, my mother loved it and that made me feel special.  I felt even more special when I learned what my name meant.  (I’m not even sure my mother knew!)  But once I found out, I would regularly tease my oldest sister, Mary Alice, because her name meant “bitter handmaiden”, while mine meant “noble lily”.  {No wonder she found me annoying!}

But Noble Lily is about more than my name.  It is also inspired by an oft-quoted verse from the Book of Luke: “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”  Luke 12:27 (ASV)   This verse is regularly used to remind people not to worry, that God is their provider and will see to their needs.  And that’s certainly something I need to be reminded of on a regular basis, expert worrier that I am.  

 

But to me, there’s more here.  The flowers Jesus refers to are even more beautiful that the richest ruler dressed in royal garb. Think about that.  By being what He made them to be, and fulfilling their purpose in His plan, these “lowly” plants are considered finer than anything the world can create on its own.

Which leads to the last inspiration for the name.  A poet named Ben Jonson (1572-1637), who was a contemporary of William Shakespeare, wrote a poem called The Noble Nature.

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night –
It was the plant and flower of Light.
In small proportions we just beauties see:
And in short measures life may perfect be.

This poem suggests, to me, that true nobility and beauty may lie in our ability to reflect light to others.  Although it doesn’t have the long life or size of an oak, a lily brings a noble beauty of its own into the world.

In my life, I have regularly experienced God through the “small proportions” and “short measures” Jonson describes.  People and circumstances have reflected God’s love to me countless times.  They are, as I hope to be, Noble Lilies.


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Patricia Suzanne

My given name is Patricia (“noble”) Suzanne (“lily”).

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