Anemones before Mount Hermon - David Kurani

Anemones in the wild are what many believe to be the "lilies of the field" that Jesus referred to, comparing them to (and saying they surpassed) the glorious robes of Solomon. There's an interesting note; Solomon's robes were probably dyed Tyrean purple - that being the standard for the accoutrements of royalty at the time since purple-colored cloth could be achieved in no other way than by the expensive and jealously guarded secrets of the purple-dye trade in nearby Tyre.

Just outside of Tyre there are mounds and even hills of the shells of the Murex water snails; harvested from the sea-bed, each with a small hole bored in the side to extract the precious ink for the dye. Depending on how it was processed, the dye could give a range of colors from crimson through the purples, to a deep indigo - just the same range as the anemones; red but sometimes purple and even, occasionally, white. It's as though God threw down a color gauntlet and said "There; match that;" which then man more or less did - but not so effortlessly.

In the background is Mount Hermon, one candidate for being the "high mountain" of Jesus's transfiguration (the other candidate being Mount Tabor). From Hermon one can see a vast panorama from the Lebanon mountains in the north, to the Sea of Galilee in the south.

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6