The Dandelion Analogy

{circa 2007}

I had a primary meeting last night and my sweet secretary (whom I'll call Jane) shared a spiritual thought that really hit home. So I'm basically plagiarizing her and sharing it here and adding my own two sense.

Spring has just arrived in our state (knock on wood) and dandelions are popping up everywhere. As Jane was walking home from dropping off her school-age children at school and giving her preschooler a piggy-back ride home, her daughter started noticing all of the dandelions popping up all over people's lawns. "Why can't we have dandelions like theirs? They have lots of dandelions; it's not fair that we don't!" She exclaimed profusely to her mother. Inside, Jane was thinking that there was a reason that they didn't have dandelions, and that she had made the active decision to make sure they did not have any. They are, after all, hideous weeds that spread like wildfire. And yet here was her daughter pointing out their beauty and calling them beautiful flowers.

Jane explained about how we all have learning experiences and trials in our lives, and how often we view those things as weeds, things that we really would rather discard from our lives. And yet perhaps we need to view them as flowers and look for the beauty and the rampant growth that usually accompanies such struggles.

I loved this analogy.

I think of it as the weed or flower debate.

My immediate reaction is that they are weeds and we need to get some round-up or some other hearty weed killer. And yet they are also the thing that most symbolizes spring to me, not to mention their many benefits - such as being entirely edible and also used medicinally.

And I've started noticing them more. Entire fields on campus, and rare ones creeping up in my yard. Some even worth picking. Another thing worth looking for in life.