I came across this picture online.
photo credit: unknown
I posted it on my social media page with the words: “For those of us who see the magic in dandelions.”
The exact people I thought would “like” it, did. They were people who march to a different drummer, people who love well and embrace the “unlovables”.
My mom was just such a person. She loved “weedy people”. She was forever bringing home stray animals and stray people. I had more foster siblings than I could count, and “aunts” and “uncles” galore who would show up for holidays because they had nowhere else to go.
Mom also loved dandelions. She saw no reason to battle them in her lawn. She just let them grow wherever they chose. She would gather up the flowers and put them in vases in her house. When they turned into messy seeds, she loved them even more.
Mom’s other favorite flowers were thistles. She could look past their thorny leaves and stems and see their lovely lavender flowers instead. While the neighbors were battling their weeds in search of the perfect lawns, mom kept a jungle of misfit plants surrounding her house.
It turns out that mom was ahead of her time. She had no need for dangerous chemicals or fertilizers because she didn’t have anything she wanted to kill. Weed-lovers will argue that weeds: protect the soil from erosion, feed the soil as they decay, and attract beneficial bugs to your garden.
Some weeds also have unmatched medicinal properties. There are whole books written on the subject. I remember mom chewing on clover heads and adding leaves to her sandwiches. She even stewed up dandelion greens (ick).
But, it’s more than that. People who appreciate weeds look at life a little differently. They don’t stress about the little things, and they see beauty where others don’t.
I try to keep the weeds in my yard under some kind of control, but I do stop to admire the little daisies that pop up in my lawn and I love all the flowering weeds that show up in my gardens. And, dandelions will always make me happy.
I smile when I think of the last supper. Jesus could have had a big, expensive bouquet in the middle of the table if he chose to. But, I’m pretty sure he would have preferred a pitcher of wildflowers and weeds instead. Jesus was drawn to the “weedy” people. He loved them, in fact. He saw their beauty when others saw only an ugly nuisance.
And, that makes me very happy indeed.
Note: Read here about the negative side to weeds – Her Garden of Weeds | AllMomDoes
