Another lesson learned from a weed…

God has a way of using nature to get my attention.  This week, he used a simple weed to teach me some very valuable lessons and change my perspective in some areas of my life in which I’ve been struggling.  To help me explain, I want to once again, introduce you to my friend, Heidi.  You may remember her guest post from a few weeks ago in which she shared about her new book, The Secret to Counting Gifts.

Yesterday Heidi shared a post on her blog about drought and Queen Anne’s Lace that resonated with me in some pretty specific ways.  She has graciously given me permission to repost her words here.  I’ve included them at the end of this post … my prayer is that they will encourage your heart like they did mine.

Before I get to the words, however, please enjoy the Queen Anne’s Lace that I captured yesterday…

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How to Bloom in a Drought by Heidi Kreider

Mentioning that we’re in an epic drought is kinda like stating the obvious, right now. I think most of the US is facing a drought, the likes of which haven’t been seen in a while. It’s dry. It’s dusty. It’s hot.

And, yet…

… this wasn’t here when my kids last mowed the lawn 6 weeks ago.

I know… it’s a weed, commonly called Queen Anne’s Lace or Wild Carrot. And, right now, it is smack-dab in the middle of the dead grass that used to be my lawn… sitting there all by its lonesome blooming like crazy. Does it know that we stopped watering weeks ago to conserve our well? Has it heard the forecast of another day topping out around 100*? Does it realize that nothing around it is blooming?

Last night, I sat and marveled at this little white weed blooming in my dead yard. Silent tears streamed down my parched heart and flowed down my dry face.

How can it be that in the midst of the dry and the dead, it quietly grows?
How can a weed grow and bloom when my flowers have long since died?
How can a blooming weed speak to this arid heart?

I’m still not sure I have all the answers to those questions but I am confident that I have much to learn from this little tenacious weed blooming in a drought…

…bloom where you are planted…

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stand in the path of the sinners,
nor sit in the seat of the scoffers

God didn’t place this little weed in the center of a lovely garden. If He did, it would have been plucked with all the other weeds. It wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to bloom. Instead, the Master Gardner placed it where it would stand out and be noticed. He placed it where it would bloom and point to Him. He placed it where He saw fit for it to grow.

…bloom through your roots…

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and in his law he meditates day and night

Obviously, this little weed needs little to grow. It’s roots know just how far to go to find the moisture to sustain and grow. It’s roots know where to look for that moisture and it isn’t sidetracked looking somewhere else. When the seed of this plant fell in the midst of my yard, it knew exactly how to grow the roots that would later bring the blossoms. This drought hasn’t deterred this little weed because it blooms through it’s roots.

…bloom with your own blossoms…

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in its own season
and its leaf does not wither;
and in whatever he does, he prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3

A wild carrot doesn’t aspire to be a petunia or a tulip. It doesn’t try to make its self over to be a rose or a peony. Instead, it blooms with the blossoms it has been given. It blooms the way it was created to bloom, with the blossom that has been uniquely given to the plant we call Queen Anne’s Lace.

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Some of the things I regularly struggle with are feelings of invisibility and insignificance …feeling like I don’t matter and am not doing anything worth noticing.  I constantly fight an inner battle where I feel as though I don’t fit in anywhere.  And when I’m feeling exceptionally low, my heart begins to go through a drought, much like the one our area of the country is currently experiencing.  Unfortunately that has been the state of my heart in recent weeks.

So when I read Heidi’s words yesterday, my heart felt watered.

…”God didn’t place this little weed in the center of a lovely garden. …Instead the Master Gardner placed it where it would stand out and be noticed.  He placed it where it would bloom and point to him.  He placed it where he saw fit for it to grow.”

God has a specific plan for my life that does not need to look like the plans he has for others.  Just like the Queen Anne’s Lace, he has placed me exactly where he wants me to be … where I can shine and point to him.  That place might not be center stage in front of a big audience … it might be center stage in front of an audience of one.  And that’s okay.

…”A wild carrot doesn’t aspire to be a petunia or a tulip.  It doesn’t try to make its self over to be a rose or a peony.  Instead it blooms with the blossoms it has been given.”

I needed this reminder.  I have got to stop comparing myself to all the other flowers in the garden.  God doesn’t ask me to be something I’m not.  He does, however, ask me to bloom with the blossoms I’ve been given.  Everything I need to bloom has been given to me.  All I have to do is let my roots soak up the nourishment of truth from the Master Gardener.

I will probably never look at Queen Anne’s Lace the same again.  In fact, since taking the above pictures in my own yard and opening my heart to the lesson God taught me through this unassuming weed, I’ve been spotting them everywhere.  Just another reminder that God’s truth is everywhere … if only I will just open my eyes and heart to it.