A few days ago, my friend Shannan wrote a beautiful post on Instagram about a weed that was left standing tall after being mowed carefully around in a field.

She spoke of the person who mowed around the weed and how they must’ve so carefully navigated around it, leaving its beauty for others to see.

That post stirred something deep inside of me and helped me put words to something.

Earlier this summer a little weed was in our front yard. (I say yard, but you know I live in the desert so it’s just rocks.)  It grew to be big and strong and the bloom was so beautiful against the bright blue desert sky.

The petals fell many weeks ago, but I haven’t had the heart to pull it out. I keep thinking about the beauty it gave during the very hot summer days.

My heart resonates with Shannan about the people our society sees as weeds that must be plucked out quickly. I think about the people I know that others may consider less than. Maybe their job is not the corner office with a view. Maybe their house isn’t measured by acres. Maybe their meals never include anything made at home, because drive-through is cheaper and faster and they need to get to their next job. Maybe their walls include bars made of steel.

If we saw the beauty in the weeds, what would this world look like? If we could open our eyes and realize that weeds are just flowers determined by someone else to be invasive? What if we invite the weeds stand tall and we watered them and saw what they could do and no longer called them weeds? Would we call them part of our community? What if I’m actually the weed in someone’s eyes?

Thank goodness my savior chose to mow carefully around me and water me and let me stand tall to know that I could make beauty when his Son is shining on me.