Wildflowers or Weeds?

I love Spring. In Northwest Louisiana, we don’t see a whole lot of it. But when we get glimpses, I take them all in. Trees budding, flowers blooming, birds singing.

I love Spring. But I don’t like everything that it brings. Spring brings weeds. I don’t pay much attention to my landscaping. I leave it all in the capable hands of my husband. But one thing I can’t stand is weeds. They just have a way of taking over.

Driving through my neighborhood the other day, I was taking a weed inventory of all of my neighbor's lawns. With each yard, my disdain grew stronger.

Right in the middle of my stroll, a thought scrolled across my mind. “Don’t see weeds, see wildflowers.” In days gone by my first urge would have been to resist the thought, argue it down, and then reason it away. “But they’re weeds!” I would have said.

Instead, I went with it, and in less than a second everything changed. I didn’t see weeds in the next neighbor’s yard, I saw wildflowers. I saw the beauty and mystery of creation.

My brow lifted. My shoulders retracted. I smiled. I chuckled.

“Is it really this easy?” I thought. Just change the way you see and everything else can change?

I don’t know what you see that you need to see differently. Maybe you hate weeds, too. Maybe it’s your job – all you see are problems. Today see opportunities. Maybe it’s your marriage – all you see is who your spouse has become. Today see who you can become. Maybe it’s our world – all you see is division, chaos, and pain. Today see yourself stepping into it and bringing unity, peace, and healing.