A Weed Among the Flowers

I was at a friend's house recently and on her porch she had a beautiful display of "flowers" in several small glass jars.  I commented how beautiful they were and she laughed, squeezed my arm and said, "I collected those weeds out of a ditch on a drive home yesterday."  Did you catch that?  Weeds.

Later that afternoon when the boys were napping, I went a few feet up the gravel road alongside our home and cut a few of my own weeds and assembled them into my own glass jars.

 Have you ever felt like a weed among the flowers, friends?  You go on a play date and the other kids are way more well mannered than your own.  You visit a friends home and she decorates and cleans so much better than you.  You go to a potluck and want to hide your dessert because next to the others, it just doesn't measure up.  You meant not to think ill thoughts of that woman you keep seeing at the grocery store that looks like she just crawled out of bed and didn't give personal hygiene a thought.  Weeds.

But you know what?  God even makes weeds beautiful.  Weeds.  We are imperfect people living in a sinful world.  We think imperfect thoughts, do imperfect things, and struggle to stretch out for the sunrise and drink in the goodness of God's glorious riches and live.  Truly live.

The next opportunity you get, take a long stroll down a gravel road and look and see the beautiful weeds.  And remember, you were created in God's image.  He wants you to flourish like a flower.