Beauty in the Weeds

With all that is going on in the world I have struggled with some frustration and discouragement. So I took some time last week to unplug, to play with my grandkids, and to look at my flowers.

Like many gardeners, I have a soft spot for my plants, especially my flowers. I fuss over them and care for them. I invest time and labor into them. I love when they bloom or produce fruit, and am sad when they wilt. You could say I am passionate about them. 

When I look at them, I see the beauty and the uniqueness in which God has created each individual variety. I wander through my flowers at least a few times a day to take in their colors, and to see what new blooms are coming out. The coreopsis, liatris and gladiolus are blooming right now. (pictured above) From a distance, each type looks basically the same. But if you look a little deeper, you will see that each flower has subtle differences. I am not certain why this surprises me. God is not so small that he can’t do amazing things. He pays attention to every detail – Matthew 10:30 says He has even counted the hairs on my head. 

I like to think that Jesus looks at us like flowers in his garden. I think of Jesus walking in his garden, looking lovingly at his children, admiring us in all our beauty and diversity. Growing at different stages and times. Individuality abounds. There are weeds in the garden too- not one of us perfect.

Just as Jesus does not remove all the bad things from my life, I can’t remove every weed from my garden. I don’t always know what is a weed and what is a flower, sometimes I let them grow just to see what they become. What I think is a weed is really a flower. God is like that too, He sees the flower in the weeds. I look at appearances, but God looks at the heart. (I Samuel 16:7)

For many years, I thought I was the ugliest weed in the garden, one that anyone would yank out and throw away, not worthy of saving, good for nothing but the trash heap. Jesus did not see me that way. He knew I had a flower inside of my ugliness. He never gave up one me, no matter how much I wanted to be a weed, no matter how much I wanted to destroy my life. But that’s how the master gardener works. He doesn’t give up on His kids. He won't give up because He loves us unconditionally. That beauty exists even in the deadest weeds. He is willing to wait for the flower.

 

Bible References

Matthew 10:30

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

I Samuel 16:7

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”