Lily's Song "Consider Lily"

As I said in yesterday's post, Dave and I have some truly amazing friends. Where do I start? Dave's best friend is Mike, but we'll get to him in a minute. Mike's mom's name is Lorraine. I think I've known Lorraine about as long as I've known Mike, and I'm so thankful that she, too, has become my friend. We call her Momma Ray. She's the one who led our Prayer in the Park gathering before Lily was born, and if you look back to that time, you'll see that she's also the one who wrote the beautiful prayer for Lily. She's been amazingly instrumental in getting others to pray for Lily and our family.

Rewind to a month or so ago. Momma Ray visited us and brought Lily a gift but told us that she had another gift for her. It just wasn't ready.

Fast forward to last Friday. It was one of those days when frustration dominated every nerve ending. I couldn't help worrying over going back to work or not and how we were going to make either one happen. Too many things just kept going the way I didn't want them to go. I was at the point where I had to make a phone call about relief for child care (having someone watch Lily and Gabriel here at home is going to cost us a little more than what it would cost to put THREE children in daycare), and I just kept thinking if this woman answers the phone, I'm going to bust out crying. She didn't answer the phone. Still, it was one of those days.

When I went out to the mailbox, there it was--the package that Momma Ray had told me she was sending. How can I convey the perfect timing of this manila envelope? In it was a folder with a piece of paper and a cd. Here's what was written on the piece of paper:

"Consider Lily"
commissioned by Lorraine to honor the life of
Lily Grace
written and performed by Michael Ray and Ilhwa Gallo
Inspired by Matthew 6:28-29
"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; And yet I say to you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Following that was the lyrics. I put the cd in and heard what you will hear if you click on the little arrow in the black box to the right of this page and cried. This was a much-needed blessing to such a frustration of a day. Perfect timing.

When I called Momma Ray to thank her, I found out that this has been in the making since before Lily was born. You see, she read the blog where I struggled with creating memories of Lily and decided to commission this song. How thoughtful! I told you I had great friends!

To add to that, I have to tell you about Mike. When I called him to thank him, he told me that this is mine and Dave's song, we can do whatever we want with it. Wow! I asked him if he minded if I put it on my blog, and of course, he said no, but that this copy was only a rough draft. [By the way, his band's name is Eleventh Hour and they're coming out with a cd soon!] What was mind boggling to me was that he then said That's funny. I was going to ask you if you minded if we played it when we performed. What! To this day, I still can't imagine why he would even ask me that. Such humility in giving such a gift. [And I hear that the song will probably be on their second cd!]

But I've been thinking about this song. I keep going back to the line Consider this lily of the field. How many times have I, in my prayers, taken this child and lifted her up to God and basically asked him to consider her, this lily? God, I'm just putting her in Your hands. Consider her. Please.

So now, I extend this gift to you. If you are a mother of a child with T-18 or some other fragile condition, if you are praying to see your little one, even if for just a little while, please, use this song as your prayer for your own lily of the field.