Sufficient Unto the Day

My faith in and understanding of institutions (both political and religious) is evolving. Living through a pandemic made me consider what is unchanging, reliable, and sustaining in my life. I often "toil and spin," unlike the lilies that Christ describes in Matthew 6:25-34. I've learned that Christ's love is constant and reliable when everything else around me comes crashing down— an image Laurel Thatcher Ulrich utilizes in her essay, "Lusterware." Ulrich's essay draws from Emily Dickinson's poem on lusterware, a material that was a poor man's substitute for silver and which breaks easily. Dickinson describes mistaking lusterware for silver and placing it on her shelf with her other silver, only to have it fall and smash on the "bottom of [her] mind." I have similarly placed value in ideals and beliefs that are not lasting or substantive. In contrast to the smashed lusterware, the lilies will continue to grow. Thus, the lilies in my piece are God's enduring love and the fragments of lusterware are my discarded beliefs. The circles placed over the piece symbolize the eternal nature of both God's relationship with His children, as well as my need to learn and relearn this lesson. The title comes from the last verse in Matthew 6, which teaches me that my human efforts are enough for God.