Dandelions

What memories come to mind when you think of dandelions?  I know...strange question.  Here are a few that come to me:

1.  The huge field of dandelions that announced spring every year when I was in high school.  It was just west of CWC and was a solid field of yellow, until of course it turned ungly as it seeded out.

2.  All the dandelion bouquets that our kids brought into the house, with such excitement each spring.

3.  The constant work of dealing with yards filled with those yellow heads.

4.  Blowing the seed heads not realizing you were sowing bad seeds :(

Last week I was babysitting Lorena and Miriam on a beautiful spring day.  We decided to go out in the back yard to "work" on the yard.  The girls are 3 and 5 and more than willing to help.  We had just had several of the rainy days that caused flooding in so many areas, including our basement.  The ground was well saturated, and in my raised flowerbed I decided to tackle the dandelions.

Miriam would help by standing on the spade and then tipping it back so I could grab the dandelion and pull it out by the roots.  Oh my goodness...some of these dandelions must have been grandpa and grandma dandelions.  They had roots that went done for over a foot.  Others would have about 6 long roots that looked like skinny carrots.  Because the ground was so wet they would pull out without breaking off.  I felt victorious!!  I was rooting these things out!!  If one broke off I would attack it again, looking for the remaining tips.

I got to thinking about those dandelions.  They are deeply rooted...and frustrating!  I have to admire them.  Mowing the tops off means nothing...they will return.  Drought doesn't seem to phase them.  You won't drown them out.  They can be amazingly pretty in their fresh spring state.  They seem to grow anywhere.  They are very low maintenance.

I've wondered why God thinks we need so many dandelions.  Come to think of it, that was one of the questions that really got me thinking about what God wants me to do with my life in this season and beyond.  Someone once asked, "Why does God want so many old people around?"  Statistics say we will be a very large portion of the population.  God is the one who numbers our days, so I am determined to figure out what he wants me to be doing during those days.

I wonder how my roots are doing?  Do I have grandma roots yet?  Roots that go down deep, that spread out wide?  Roots that reach down to what nourishes me?

Like dandelions, do I delight children?  I hope so;  I think that is a good sign.  Do I frustrate adults?  You know, I guess I do that too sometimes.  Maybe that is okay.  Maybe I don't do it enough!   Jesus frustrated a lot of adults!  The more the adults thought they were right the more Jesus frustrated them.  The harder they tried to get rid of him, even killing him on a cross the wider he spread his seeds, his fields.

The girls told their mom how hard we had all worked, and how long it would have taken me if I didn't have their help.  We got those dandelions!

This morning I went back out to the flowerbed.  Wait a minute!! Where did all these come from???  Lord, give me dandelion tenacity when it comes to Kingdom living and Kingdom loving.