Do you ever have lawn wars at your house? By that I mean arguments about how high the lawn mower should be set. I am a little embarrassed to admit that Brad and I have had more than one “discussion” about that and other trivialities of yard work.
I like the grass a little on the taller side even if it means mowing twice a week. Brad, on the other hand, wants the mower set on 2 inches, nice and short. Admittedly, over the years, at times it has been a struggle to even get the yard mowed at all.
I’m still humiliated about the time Shandi and Chris, who did our patio and sidewalks, came by for an estimate. We were in the midst of spring planting and many evening activities for me and the boys, and our grass was in desperate need of attention. However, no one had time to sit on our little mower for 4+ hours. The grass must have been over 6 inches tall. And we were showing it to professional landscapers!
Oh my.
And then there are the battles over dandelions. Poor Brad, who tries to make his wife happy, has often put the little sprayer on the 4 wheeler and waited patiently for a very early morning that wasn’t too windy so he could kill the weeds in the grass, but nothing else, before spending another 13 hours farming.
Sometimes I am very hard to please. And unreasonable. I’m going to do better, honey.
We have a bigger John Deere now that allows me to zip around and finish the job in around 2 hours, so when I mow, the grass is higher and gets it more often. One day earlier this spring, I was flying back and forth on the mower, lamenting our yard full of dandelions when God prompted me to change my perspective.
I love flowers, so why couldn’t I learn to love dandelions?
I got out my camera and snapped a close-up of one of the hundreds in our front yard. Guess what? It was beautiful!
This began one of my great blessings of the last few weeks. I’ve been on a quest to really NOTICE the beauty and variety of flowers of all shapes and sizes, especially their centers. Each one is a little miracle and a testament to the creativity of the Great Creator.
And all of these little beauties reminded me that for all the beauty of nature, mankind was God’s ultimate creation.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness……God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1: 26a, 31a
Isn’t that something?
Each one of us is created in God’s image. There is something at the center of each of us that points to the Creator.
Let’s consider this…..
Think of:
the nicest person you know-
God is nicer.
The funniest person you know-
God is funnier.
The best artist-
God is more artistic.
The best singer-
God’s voice is better.
The friendliest person-
God is friendlier.
The most empathetic-
God understands each person completely.
The most beautiful-
God is more beautiful.
The best mathematician-
God invented math.
The smartest scientist-
God invented scientific principles.
The best doctor-
God is the Great Physician.
The most loving person you know-
God IS love.
The most joyful, grace-filled, self-controlled, peaceful, patient, faithful, gentle person we know,
Can’t even come close to the character of God.
And this is just the beginning.
If we could make a composite of the best character traits of all of us, and multiply them by infinity, perhaps we begin to get a glimpse of our Heavenly Father.
When our boot camp here on earth is finished, those of us who are Christ followers will get to spend eternity in relationship with HIM. And we will be transformed into the people we were created to be.
It is going to be AMAZING!
Let’s change our perspective and take our eyes off the inevitable flaws in those who cross our paths in this fallen world. Instead, let’s look for the beauty in all of God’s creation.
Including you and me.
Wonderful message! Thanks Susan!
Once again, you have challenged me to step back and look at things in a completely different way. I love you and your gentle, God-centered ways!
I did not know you had a blog Susan. Anyway, we love dandelions here. We make jelly, tea, salad, and when I was a kid my mom would fry them up and we would eat them with our lunch. Then when I got the joy of watching my sons discover that you could write on the sidewalk with them I got the joy of remembering how amazing that seemed when I was a little girl. Simeon picks dandelion bouquets– that kid can turn just about any flower into a bouquet– he likes to go on walks in the country to pick the flowers (weeds) that grow along side the road. I have proudly displayed many of his weed bouquets. Now we grow flowers specifically for his bouquets. When Caleb was younger he would smear dandelions on his nose and have this yellow nose. I hope you do learn to love dandelions. This is a great message. How many things in life do we fight when we would be better off to accept and learn to love. God is the ultimate creator and I love experiencing his creativity that has no end.
Love this! Have been working in special ed classes and my daily prayer is to see these children with His eyes. We all have our broken parts but not all of us show them to the world. Just as every weed is a flower planted in the wrong place for a picky gardener, there is potential beauty and joy in everyone of God's children
Thank you for reading, Trina!
Love you, too, Gina! I'd love to know what God shows you!
Thank you so much for sharing the stories of your sweet boys! Yes-some things we need to stop fighting and accept and learn to love. What if the blessing is for us in the acceptance?
Granny! What a beautiful prayer for your students. They are lucky! We are all broken, but made beautiful because of Christ. May I not be a picky gardener. xoxo
Love this post and all the beautiful flower photos – especially the last one with all the water droplets!
There really is something to relishing God's creativity in this beautiful world He made for us. I love all your gorgeous flower photos and the dew on the last one is absolutely exquisite. So many times I have to check my attitude for things I deem important… Why is it we get all up tight about things that don't make a bit of difference in the big scheme of things?
Thanks for the reminder. Be blessed my friend!
I love this post Susan – all of it! I love the inspiring words and the lovely pictures. And you KNOW I love a good dandelion : )
Love this Susan.
My mother would make a dish with dandelions, bacon and a white sauce.Could never pick them in my yard ad we would probably die from the chemicals.
Eva-Oh my! I can’t even imagine how yummy that dish was for you to remember it still. Mashed potatoes and gravy will always be my comfort food. White gravy, brown gravy-doesn’t make a bit of difference to me. I like it all!
Susan, I love this story. You should see our lawn, it is full of flowers because we are organic gardening. But I mow it regularly once a week and I like it on the shorter side,;-)) Therefore we have a lot of bees, butterflies and birds in our garden. And I love to make honey out of the dandelions.
Oh, Daniela! I would love to see a picture of your lawn. Post one in the comments, Please!!! I’d love to learn more about the bees, butterflies and birds!!! I have a lovely picture in my head now!
To get that great looking lawn that you want it is essential that you care for your lawn properly. There are a number of ways in which you can care for your lawn and some of the tips and tricks of the trade seem to work better than others.
Thank you for your post, love this.
Thanks, Anette! I would love to know your favorite tips. I am very interested in natural, nontoxic ways if you know of any. Plants are so fun!!! What are your favorites? I am so thankful you found my post and commented!