Dandelion Whine

Last week was a pretty incredible one for me, hanging out with 400 or so people in Machias, Maine, scraping off old crumbly paint, slapping on the new protective coats, basically helping out lots of homeowners who are living on the edge of making it or not. It was an awesome group effort. I will never forget the dear people I worked with and the just-as-dear people that we served.

Our teams of 6 went out to different homes all over the countryside, doing what we could to accompany God's people in need. It would have been enough of a spiritual high just to be getting away from all my own worries and stresses to focus on someone else's need. But what added so much more was the focus on God's presence in all that we were doing.

Each day we were tasked with the job of looking for God to show up, of watching out for signs of the Spirit's activity. Then when we returned to the big group, we reported our "God Sightings" right alongside our "Progress Reports" on the work completed... both truly of equal importance.

I don't know about you, but I think I spend much more of my time looking for signs of trouble than for signs of God. Watching for God-sightings might seem presumptuous (as if insignificant little me could really know what God is up to), but it changes my outlook considerably. Sitting here at my desk, trying to catch up with all the work here left undone for a week, is not much fun. But if I could keep all those worries that sap me of energy in balance with my God-sightings...

Jesus once told a great God-sighting story about a farmer who planted good seed in good earth. But then a nasty neighbor snuck in at night with weed seeds galore, maybe blowing dandelion fluff all over the farmer's wheat field. When the farmhands saw all the weeds coming up with the grain seedlings, they were all whiney-like. What kind of seeds did you plant anyway? And what are we supposed to do now?

The farmer's cool. He knows that weeds happen, plotting enemies exist. Got to go with the flow. Don't yank the weeds now or you might mess up the tender roots of the good stuff. Let them all grow together until harvest day. We'll sort it all out then.

There are so many ways this story can point at truth. For me today, I'm seeing that my life is a field of weeds and wheat growing together. And if all I can see are the weeds that need to be pulled, that's not much of a life. Sure the weeds are there, all the negatives I whine about and the worries I think I'm drowning in. But there's plenty of wheat to be spotted as well, if only I have eyes to see. Can I just let it all grow, around and inside me, the wheat and the weeds together?

God, I'm afraid I'll always be just a weed-spotter. Forgive me, and open my eyes wide. Help me see the good stuff growing, too. Help me see YOU... here, there, and over there too... and, most of all, inside of me. Give me patience to handle the weeds even as you fill me with the energy my God-sightings bring me...

So what happens to our farmer and farmhands on those late autumn harvest days? Well, they're probably warming themselves by the bonfire kept toasty by the dried-weed kindling, even as they celebrate all the grain they're storing up for the winter. And, who knows? Maybe they're even indulging in a little dandelion wine...

~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl