“This is the lesson of the wildflowers. At first they don’t look like flowers, they present as a weed. And if we fail to recognize them, we will miss their beauty. Sometimes what we most fear is just the bud before the blossom. If we are patient and let things unfold, we may discover an incredibly beautiful gift just waiting to be enjoyed. Other times, there was no blossom. It was just a weed as I suspected. The question is, when will we know? When should we pull the weeds? When should we let them grow? What happens if we pull too soon and miss the flower? What happens if we let it grow and the weeds get stronger and harder to pull up?”–Shane Hipps, Selling Water by the River
How many of us are attempting to weed our lives and missing the wildflowers. Personally, I know I have a tendency to over-weed. I am inherently impatient and often fail to trust in the direction my life is going. Not only do I fail to stop and smell the flowers, but I don’t even all them to blossom.
Life is often unexpected. Life is always uncertain. It is difficult—if not impossible—to tell the weeds from the wildflowers. So, what is one to do? About all one can do is watch, wait, and learn. With maturity, one will begin to discern. One learns to recognize the weeds and flowers early. With such wisdom, we are able to make better decisions.
We will make mistakes, for sure. Better to allow an occasional weed than miss the flowers all together.
If you are missing the analogy here, the wildflowers are the good that comes from adversity. I shared the quote, yesterday (and metaphors are getting mixed), but Mattie Stepanek’s words warrant repeating: ““We all have life storms, and when we get the rough times and we recover from them, we should celebrate that we got through it. No matter how bad it may seem, there’s always something beautiful that you can find.” Even the rough times we have can produce beauty—if we look.
I often think of some wonderful people who have experienced the worst of heartaches. Despite the pain, they have managed to appreciate the wildflowers while they were in bloom. Honestly, I am not sure I could have stood as strong as they did. Put in perspective, most of the “weeds” we experience are trivial. Our energy is best spent enjoying what we have to enjoy—the wildflowers.
As usual, I am writing to myself. Perhaps, one or many might find themselves where I often find myself—searching for weeds among the wildflowers. Let us ignore the weeds and take time to appreciate the wildflowers.
Carpe momento!
Image source: http://www.pacificcreststock.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mp1.jpg