Recently I have been transplanting a certain lawn weed to create a low growing ground cover in front of my rock edged flower bed in the front of the house. The plant is in the portulaca family and it grows low and has sweet little magenta flowers. So one man's weed is another man's cheap ground cover. That's the thing about weeds, they are weeds because we didn't plant them and/or don't want them growing where they decide to grow. But is it still a weed if we find a purpose for it and plant it where we want it? Now it's something useful, maybe even valuable to us, but it's still the same plant, right? Dollar weed is perhaps the most hated lawn weed in Florida, but if someone discovered that it could cure cancer, you bet folks would be tearing up their St Augustine sod to grow some dollar weed!
There have been circumstances in my life lately that I would consider weeds in the garden of my life. I didn't plant them and don't particularly like where they are growing. They seem to be choking out things that I would prefer to have flourishing. I suspect that in God's plan, I may discover a purpose for them that will add value and usefulness that I cannot see right now. Even the yard weeds that I don't find worthy of transplanting have come to have a purpose as I uproot them and add them to the compost pile to feed the plants that I have deemed worthy of cultivation.
So, as I ponder weeds and unwanted circumstances I am reminded that it's all a matter of perspective. Will I wear myself out fighting to extinguish the weeds, or will I find some useful purpose for them and allow them to contribute to the garden of my life in whatever way they were intended to?
