I’ve always been fascinated by wildflowers. My inner child never let go of the “pretty weeds”. There is something lovely about flowers growing in places they were never planted, especially in places we don’t expect to find them, like cracks in sidewalks, road sides, surrounded by dead grasses, or pushing their way through a trash pile.

Lessons from the flower that can’t be tamed:

• Sometimes you don’t get to be carefully placed or planted. You get thrown, blown, or even pooped out along a journey. Will you be defiant and decide to grow beautifully anyway? The Creator knew where you would land.
• Sometimes you don’t get a gardener measuring out fertilizer and water schedules. The Creator gets you just enough. He sees. He cares.
• Your flower, in the middle of where it was “never meant to grow”, (by our standard) means the world to someone. Those flowers look like hope to me. I am always seeing them in passing and not able to give them the award they deserve. Someone is watching you bloom and seeing hope and beauty, even if they never stop to tell you.

So if you feel a little out of place sometimes, take a little cue from the wildflower. And the next time you are tempted to judge someone who seems out of place or surrounded by rough circumstances, look closer. There just might be a wildflower blooming despite all the wind, weeds, and thorns. Don’t miss the beauty.