When you look at a dandelion what do you see? Do you see a weed or do you see something of beauty, full of potential?
God has recently been speaking to me about how we are like the dandelion plant.
As I looked into the origin of the dandelion I found out that they were imported from Europe and they now spread as wildflowers. Interestingly, the seeds are produced without pollination, resulting in offspring that are genetically identical to the parent plant. After flowering is finished, the dandelion flower head dries out for a day or two. The dried petals and stamens then drop off and the parachute ball opens into a full sphere.
We often refer to them as ‘dandelion clocks’ in this country and when I was growing up we played a game where we would pick the dandelion clock and blow on it to tell the time (how mad is that, a bit like the buttercup game where you held a buttercup under someone’s chin to see if they like butter!! Please tell me I’m not the only one who did that?) If you blew on the dandelion clock five times for instance, it was five o’clock etc. The seed heads would then drift off into the air and get carried away by the breeze or fall near to where you stood. Eventually many dandelions would rise up and grow where the seed heads fell. Not the most popular game if your parents liked gardening or keeping a lovely lawn!
I felt God talk to me about how as Christians we are like the dandelion, full of potential and brimming with possibilities, even when we don’t feel or see it ourselves, that is how our Father sees us. Just as the dandelion flower blossoms bright and yellow and stands out (like us as we come to Christ) it then transforms through a process into something else, something beautiful, something distinct, something with purpose in mind, a job it was created for, something that will have a far reaching effect, as far as the seed heads carry on the wind. As we spread the gospel it is like the seed heads blowing into the wind and spreading far and wide.
What is really fascinating to me is that the seed heads are genetically identical to the parent plant, just as we are to God. God’s DNA is in us! As we allow the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow through us we can spread the good news and blessings that we carry as sons and daughters, not just into the place where we are currently but, into far reaching places that we can’t even see with our human eyes.
Just as the seed heads disperse and spread you don’t know where they will land or when, the timing is unknown because of so many variables. It’s the same for us as we spread the gospel and go around doing good, we cannot tell where the seed heads will take root or when the seeds we have sown will bloom but, God has it all under control and timing is His business, not ours to worry about.
This is what we are called to do,
Acts 1:8 The MSG He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”
So, the next time you see a dandelion clock think of it in a whole new light and be reminded of all the potential that is within you, to be blown wherever the spirit takes you.
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