Ben is just getting over having chicken pox. Poor little guy ran fevers up to 104, and of course itched and itched for a few days. For a week, we were cooped up inside, making sure we took no chances of exposing him to anyone. A few days into the virus, the fever broke, and he began feeling better, but he was still contagious . . . and dying to get out of the house. So I sent him on a nature hunt for wildflowers. We have a lot of woods behind our house (where no one would see his spots), so he got dressed, grabbed a ziploc baggy, and off he went, with instructions to find 5 different “wild” flowers.
He didn’t stay gone very long. It was warm that day, and just few minutes of being hot and getting sweaty started him itching. But he did make it back with one flower in his baggy . . . a dandelion. He was so proud because he knew that yellow was my favorite color.
Little did he know that his dad (and everyone else I know) spends a lot of time and money to kill these prolific weeds wildflowers. But Ben had this sweet look on his face as he got out a bud vase and filled it with water, carefully placing the flower in the vase. Just a couple of days before, I had been given some lilies from my co-op, and he and his dad had picked peonies from the garden. He gently placed the dandelion on the kitchen table amongst the vases of beautiful flowers.
I wish I had thought to take a picture. I want to remember the sight of that little yellow flower in the midst of the beauty of the others. Given to me with as much pride as a child can muster, every bit as much as the peonies, maybe even more, because it was yellow. He was sure it would be my favorite. “God sure makes wonderful flowers, doesn’t he momma?” It was simply delightful.
How often do we offer up our dandelion to God in the hopes that he sees a gorgeous flower, instead of weed that most people just want to rid from their lives. I may not be a perfect mom, wife, friend, daughter, homeschool teacher, or Christian. But when I offer Him the best of me, the One who created me delights in that. He only sees the beauty. The pretty yellow color.
So remember, even when all you have to offer God are your dandelions, He will accept them and delight in you, just as though you offered up beautiful peonies. Just smile sweetly and know that you, too, are wonderfully made.
