When Weeds Look Like Flowers

Have you ever had a child come up to you and say, "Look I picked you flowers" as they hand you a wilting dandelion?  It is cute and painful at the same time.  Why? Because it is a kind gesture, and you know this demonstration of love is a weed.  

I was sitting on my back patio and we have some sunflowers that are growing in the field behind us (Pictured above)  Some were planted by my wife and others are a result of feeding the birds.  Suflowers grow wild where I live and they are as common as dandelions.  People love them though.  Noone has ever traveled for hours to take pictures of a field of dandelions.  The thing that struck me as I looked at these sunflowers is they are just dandelions people like.  They are both yellow weeds and only one is sold in floral shops.  

And as I thought about this, I realized the metaphor applied to more than just plants and goes deeper than just our prefrences of yellow weeds.  We all have weeds in our lives.  Some we are okay with and others we declare as bad.  You might not be okay with your weed of laziness, but you are okay with your weed of gossip.  Often we view the weeds in our lives as sunflowers and the weeds in other people as dandelions.  

I was reading in the Bible (2Kings 22, 23 and 2 Chronicles 34, 35) about how King Josiah heard the Law of Moses and immediately started sweeping all the spiritual weeds out of the nation.  All the evil practices that had taken root among the people were destroyed; the temples, the idols, the priests, and anything else that did not line up with God's word.  The problem was Josiah did not deal with the sunflower in his own life.  He left a weed of pride in his heart and it cost him his life.  

Jesus tells us of some of the other weeds to watch out for.  He warns about the cares of this world, the decietfulness of riches, and those opposed to the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13).  Just like dandelions and sunflowers, once you have one weed they spread to all areas of your life.  If you want to grow in your walk with Jesus you have to let Holy Spirit apply the Round Up of Truth in your life and destroy those weeds at the root.  

"What 'sunflowers' might you have in your own life that you need to address?"

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