In the Weeds

Weeds really can be a nuisance. I have endless stickers in my yard that through the years have caused much frustration in my life. My 6 year old granddaughter always asks when she comes over if there are stickers in the house because she has stepped on a few. How do we deal with the things that are just a nuisance and cannot be fully removed from our days?

The other day my younger granddaughter picked me some flowers(weeds) from my yard and told me, “These are beautiful just like you”. Perspective is key isn’t it.

Innocence sees the beauty in the weed because they do not know it is a weed. Since I have felt like I was stuck in the weeds lately I have really been pondering this paradox. The weeds are both ugly and beautiful. “The difference between a weed and a flower is judgement.”

Life is lived in the weeds between the ugly and the beautiful. Life is a paradox. To find joy you must suffer. You must experience sadness to understand happiness; hear noise to appreciate silence; feel absence to value present; to be vulnerable we must be courageous. We are free to choose but not free of consequence. The more we know the more we know we have to learn. Enlightenment shows us our limitations. The contradictions are endless. To succeed you have to walk through failure.

The weeds of life; ugliness, suffering, sadness, noise, absence, vulnerability, ignorance, failure.

The goodness of the weeds; beauty, joy, happiness, silence, presence, courage, choice, education, learning, success, HOPE.

We live between the hard and the soft, and the unfortunate frustrations of life are like a burr in your saddle threatening to upset the comfortable ride.

I believe the key to cultivating through weeds is to rejoice in the beauty of the flowers that bloom and understand its purpose in creation. Negative things can have positive growth. They can remind us of what needs work in a yard or in a heart or soul.

I am currently soul, body, mind, heart deep in the weeds trying to dig out stickers and roots. Seeking to gaze upon the flowers that bloom from them and learning to gently blow the petals off when they are ready.

Are you in the weeds? Do you feel the sting of things festering and frustrating you? Truth is not always comfortable or easy. Im sitting in the seat of contemplation giving value to things not valued or understood. It all matters in who we are, how we live or cope. This is growth in the weeds. Will you join me?