Wild Joy

I remember when I was a little girl I used to pick bouquets of dandelions for my mom.  She loved them (or at least she acted like she did), and she still loves to tell stories of how we would pick them and hand them to her like it was a great gift.  It was only when I was older that I learned dandelions are actually considered weeds.  People often add poison to their lawns just to get rid of them. Yikes!

Enter my own children who would pick me large bouquets of dandelions.  Sometimes we would even weave them together, stems and all, to make crowns and play princesses in the backyard.  We loved blowing the “fuzzies” and watching them float on the wind. 

When you behold the dandelion, do you see a beautiful yellow flower?  Or are seeing the weed?

Life is neither black nor white.  It’s neither sad or happy.  It’s both, and it’s often all of it at once.  Every human being “has known both singing and weeping.”  Can I be brave enough to show the parts of me that are “hurting and hoping” and “shine them like a lighthouse for the other ones to see?” so that all parts of the seeds of my heart can be carried upon the wind to be planted in the hearts of others?

May I continue to allow myself to access the “Wild Joy” that lives inside of me, and may I be brave enough to open up my heart … not just for the beautiful, flowery parts of my life, but for the broken, painful, weedy ones too. 

And if, by shining the light of all that is me (good, bad, hard, beautiful), it somehow creates connection or hope for another?  Well then I think maybe it’s worth the risk.