Dandelions

“And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:30)

My new favorite flower is the dandelion. Yes, you read that correctly, a dandelion. I know, I know, many of you gardeners and lawn care specialists out there are shaking your heads in dismay at me right now, but hear me out on this. I know that most people don’t like them because they’re considered “weeds”. But what is it that makes them a weed and not a flower? www.dictionary.com defines “weed” as: 1)     Undesirable plant growing in cultivated ground 2)   To free from weeds 3)   To remove as undesirable. So, from this we learn that the definition of a weed is that it is undesirable, but nowhere does it say by WHOM it is not desired. It’s all in the eye of the beholder! So while the majority of humans would NEVER plant a dandelion in their flower beds on purpose, God does it every day! Think about it. Who controls the wind? God. And how do dandelion seeds get spread? The wind. So, who plants the dandelions? God. Every… single… one. Now, who are we to say that they’re weeds when God placed them precisely where they are? Eye of the beholder my friend, eye of the beholder.

During my years as a preschool teacher I was the proud recipient of many a dandelion, both from my students and my own children. Not once did I have a child come to me and say “Here, I picked this weed for you.” No, each time that dandelion had been hand-picked with love, both for the beauty of the creation and the recipient of the gift. Who are we to say that a part of God’s creation (His love letter to US) is undesirable? Is it because the dandelion is a common flower found practically everywhere that it is deemed undesirable? Diamonds are a common gem easily mined, but yet THEY’RE not undesirable so who gets to make these decisions anyway?

Ya know, I think maybe that’s what the trials, test, irritations, and frustrations in our lives are like too, dandelions. From losing our keys when we’re late to a death in the family, it’s all in the eye of the beholder; in the way we look at them. Usually when I’m running late there is inevitably SOMETHING that gets forgotten or left behind making us even later and me more frazzled. Now I have a choice in how I look at the situation. I can look at it from a “weed” point-of-view, or I can look at it from a “flower” point-of-view. You see, I believe that there is no such thing as random. Especially if you are a Christian! You see, God is a detail oriented kind of God. He’s into details like how many hairs are on your head, and how many footsteps we’ll take in our lives. If God keeps track of my hair count (that changes every time I run my hands through my hair, or a breeze shifts it) then how can I then also believe that He would leave anything up to chance or coincidence? Especially things like being ten minutes late for an appointment! If I leave on-time I’m going to cross paths with a completely different set of drivers, stop-light sequences, pedestrians, etc, than if I leave ten minutes later than I had planned. So when I look at my situation from a weed point-of-view, I’m seeing how late I am, how things aren’t going according to MY plan. But when I flip my point-of-view and look at the flower and not the week I begin to think about things differently. Yes, I’m still late, but maybe just maybe I’m late… for a reason! Maybe, if I had left on-time I would’ve crossed paths with someone texting and driving and running a red light straight into the side of my car. Who know?!? God does! And who am I to say that He’s wrong or that His plan isn’t perfect? God plants those dandelions smack in the middle of our nice green lawns, who are we to say that they shouldn’t be there? My guess is they’re there to teach us something or maybe to make our boring green lawn a little more interesting and beautiful. Who knows? All I know is that it’s not my place to say whether or not it is or is not supposed to be there, but rather how I choose to see the situation and ask God how HE wants me to deal with it.