But the definition of a weed raises a question. If a weed is a plant that is not valued where it is growing, or, more simply, is a plant in the wrong place, what is it when it is valued, and who determines the right or wrong place? Does it become a flower if it's valued?
My father-in-law and I have a few things in common. We both love Leah, which is, of course, why he is my father-in-law. We both love college football. And we both love weeds. Each year as spring arrives, his yard blooms. It's beautiful. When it comes time to mow, my father-in-law cuts all his grass except this one section that is full of flowering weeds. It's a good thing he doesn't have an HOA, or they'd probably have a fit. One part of his yard will remain uncut for a while allowing the weeds to grow and bloom. I call them flowers, but I also get corrected and told those are weeds. But are they? They are valued where they're growing by the man who owns the land, and by others who see them. If he wants them and appreciates them, who can say they're growing in the wrong place? OK, so the botanists insist they're not flowers, but the definition says they're not weeds. Wowers? Yeah, I like that, because that's how I feel, wowed by the weeds.
When I think about the words of Jesus saying consider the lilies of the field, I picture what I always considered wild flowers, but what are officially classified as weeds. I know it's not accurate, but then again, most people think modern lilies, and that's not accurate either. The flower was most likely a native red-flowered poppy, but Bible scholars don't all agree as to exactly what species of flower Jesus meant, and some say it is generic, the area's wildflowers. My point is that Jesus spoke of a naturally growing, non-cultivated blooming, beautiful plant, to illustrate God's handiwork in nature, and when I think about that, I think about the many flowers of the fields in my native East Texas, the vast majority of which are classified as weeds.
When the fields and the side of the road are covered with these wowers, the world is simply more beautiful. The monarch butterfly feeds almost exclusively on milkweed, and without the weed would die out. I love butterflies, and I have to ask, how can any plant that is essential to the continued existence of the monarch butterfly possibly be considered not to have worth or value? It seems to me that the Creator has made it extremely valuable and necessary. At least 30 insect species (and 14 fungi species) are entirely reliant on ragwort, and about a third of the insects are scarce or rare. Ragwort is also an important nectar source for hundreds of species of butterflies, bees, moths, flies and other invertebrates. I could list more examples of plants that God has made essential to the cycle of life and tons of photos of beautiful blooms that some people have declared to be weeds, worthless, unwanted, undesirable and troublesome.
Some see these plants and smile at the beauty that they bring by standing apart from the perfectly manicured yard or the grasses of the field. Some need these plants to find and have life. And these plants, regardless of what science and society may say about their value, have been declared necessary by the Creator and display His glory. So perhaps it's not so bad to feel like a weed. Those of us who might not blend in or fit in may be easily spotted and brightly display the glory and majesty and power of the Creator. Those of us who have been declared of no value, insignificant and worthless by society, by the people in our lives, and even by ourselves may be the one possibility for someone else to find and have life. The Creator made us, loves us and declared us to be wonderfully put together and purposefully positioned.
No matter what others may say or how you may feel, you are loved and valued by God. You may not feel it, but you are an essential part of the spreading of life and the display of His glory. God doesn't reject us misfits. He takes the discarded, the under appreciated and the incapable, the ones that don't measure up to the standards and says look at the beauty My love can create. No one is arrayed as these. No perfect manicured conformity to the world can bring as much beauty as a weed sprouting up and blooming bright with the glory of Him who created it.
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