dandelions

dandelions understand Advent

Posted on by Grace Day

People, including myself, are always trying to kill dandelions. Dandelions aren’t paranoid. People are actually out to get them. I know this because I used to be one of those people. I have paid big bucks in the past to have dandelions eradicated from my yard. In other words, I am guilty of hiring a hit man to take out my dandelions. (without success as you now know from previous posts) BUT – in an unforeseen plot twist – what if dandelions are actually the good guys, not the bad guys, aka dangerous weeds. There are those who want us to believe that dandelions are damaging and therefore dangerous.

BUT – this is far from the truth. As it turns out, dandelions have been undeservedly given a bad name. In fact, in my previous research, I discovered that dandelions are actually good for the soil in which they grow. They break up compacted soil and their presence invites other vegetation in which is good.

Specifically, here’s how dandelions boost soil health. Their deep tap roots aerate the soil, making channels for air and water, which make it easier for other plants to grow along with them. Dandelions are food for beneficial bugs and pollinators like bees and butterflies. Dandelions are also edible and have medicinal uses for humans. Dandelions are rich in potassium which helps many other plants and their deep roots pull other nutrients to the soil’s surface, which benefits and attracts other plants. Because of their deep roots, dandelions also help to prevent erosion.

I could go on and on, but this is an Advent post, not a gardening post or a save the dandelion’s post. So what’s the connection to Advent? Well, one could say dandelions are a gift from God. They are beautiful, good for the earth and good for humans. But we reject this gift from God. We even try to kill His gift of dandelions. Are you seeing any similarities to other gifts we receive, or refuse to receive, as the case may be, from God?

This is particularly apparent in the case of God’s most personal, most precious gift to us of His only Son, Jesus. To say that Jesus was not well received is kind of an understatement. The world made no room at all to receive God’s gift, which is why Jesus was born in a stable surrounded by animals. Why wasn’t God’s gift received with the joy, thankfulness and celebration that normally accompany the advent or arrival of a long-desired gift?

Could it be the “packaging” and the “delivery” (pun intended) of the gift weren’t what the Israelites had hoped for, weren’t what they expected and definitely weren’t what they wanted. They had been promised a Messiah, a Deliverer, a Savior – one who would set them free. The Israelites were currently enslaved and oppressed under Roman rule. So they were expecting a person with worldly status and power, a rich ruler/military type person of high rank, a king, a prince, to be the one God would send to rescue them from their current plight.

So you can see why no one paid any attention to a child born to a poor young couple in an obscure village. They were expecting God’s gift to be delivered in a palace with much pomp and fanfare among the political and religious rulers of the day announcing the arrival of God’s gift. Actually, there was much fanfare on the night of Jesus’s birth. But the important, powerful people of the day were not involved. The elite were not the ones who received the good news nor the ones who made the birth announcement to the world.

That honor went to the angels, who did the announcing and to the shepherds who did the receiving of this long-awaited gift from God. The birth announcement occurred on the hillsides surrounding Bethlehem, where the shepherds were watching over their sheep, far from the places and the palaces of power and influence. All of heaven was rejoicing that the gift had been given, but earth was having a little trouble receiving God’s gift.

“He (Jesus) came to that which was HIs own, but His own did not receive Him.” (John 1:11)

Jesus, like the dandelions of today, was not received with enthusiasm and thankfulness, and often was outright rejected.

“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” (Psalm 118:22)

But simply rejecting Jesus, refusing God’s gift, wasn’t enough for some people. There were those who wanted Jesus killed.

” . . . an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child (Jesus) and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ . . . When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.” (Matthew 2:13 & 16)

Now you see why I think dandelions definitely understand Advent and all the intrigue that accompanied Jesus’s arrival or Advent here on earth. Herod may have been the first to try to kill Jesus, but he wasn’t the last. The religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees, were constantly out to get Jesus. Just like the dandelions of today, people wanted Jesus dead.

And there came a time when they thought they had succeeded. They crucified Jesus and laid Him in a tomb. It appeared they had destroyed God’s gift. BUT – three days later the tomb was empty and Jesus was once more with His disciples. Jesus had come back to life! That is just like my dandelions, who keep returning even after I not only reject them but openly persecute them and try to kill them. The miracle of new life, eternal life – that is the gift of God, given to you and to me in the person of His Son, Jesus.

“And this is the testimony; God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11-12)

Why would I not accept God’s gift of Jesus, along with all of God’s other good gifts such as forgiveness, peace, hope, joy, redemption, salvation, His Holy Spirit presence and on and on – the list is long.

“Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:2-5)

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

Jesus, the first and foremost of all God’s good and perfect gifts, has been given. Advent – the time to celebrate God’s gift with thanksgiving!

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Dandelions understand what it is to be an underappreciated, rejected, persecuted gift. That’s probably why they understand Advent so well. This Advent season, I want to be sure I am truly grateful for the miracle gift from God of His Son, Jesus. Miracles are always worth celebrating. May this Advent be a season of celebration!

sincerely, Grace Day

dandelions declare victory!

Posted on by Grace Day

Dandelions are my heroes! Long live dandelions! Never thought I’d say that, but I’m saying it now. We have had below freezing temperatures here and even some snow BUT – I was again picking both yellow and silver fuzz dandelions out of my front yard yesterday – in December! Do dandelions ever die? I thought the cold weather would kill them but apparently it’s had no effect whatsoever. It must be the dandelion’s deep roots that sustain them during these decidedly adverse conditions of winter.

That’s why dandelions are my new heroes. Dandelions persevere. They don’t give up. Dandelions not only defy death, but they continue to multiply even when other plants have gone dormant. Just when I think I’ve won the war, just when I think it’s over, the dandelions make a comeback. That’s what’s happened in my yard. I thought I had defeated the dandelions, but they are proving me wrong day after day with their new yellow blooms and silver fluff balls continuing to mysteriously appear in my yard as if by magic.

At this point in the war, I am not only willing to call a truce, I am willing to concede my loss and declare the dandelions are the victors. And not only the victors but as I said, perhaps my new role models. If the dandelions can survive and thrive in their adverse conditions, then certainly I can too. I just need to take a lesson from their playbook – I need to have really deep roots, so when tough times come bringing drought, depression, despair, darkness, doubt – I won’t be shaken. My faith will remain not only intact, but strong and growing. Jeremiah describes exactly this kind of person –

“But blessed is the man who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

I think Jeremiah could have said – “He will be like a dandelion” and it would still ring true! Another description of those with deep roots is given to us by the psalmist when he said –

“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, ‘The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him.’ ” (Psalm 92:12-15)

It’s all about how deep the roots go, I guess. Roots are beneath the surface. You don’t see them but when the time is right, they produce something visible, something beautiful when you least expect it, when you believed everything to be beyond hope because you believed it to be dead.

The Israelites endured four hundred years of God’s silence. After the last of God’s prophets passed on, there was no one left to speak a new word to God’s people. There was only silence. No new word from God. Only the echo of the old words, the old promises made, promises still unfulfilled, promises of a Messiah, of a Savior who would arise out of seeming nothingness to rescue His people from their desperate plight. Isaiah alluded to this hope saying –

“A shoot will come from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord – and He will delight in the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:1-3)

Did you catch that? – from roots will come a fruit bearing Branch. Fruit bearing means life giving. Paul quotes Isaiah in Romans saying this about “God’s root” –

“And again, Isaiah says, ‘The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in Him.’ ” (Romans 15:12)

These prophesies are talking about the birth of Jesus, who is a descendant of Jesse, who is the father of David. Roots remain and give life. After four hundred years of silence and darkness, this root gave rise to the promised new life of the Messiah – Jesus. (and you thought this wasn’t an Advent post) When roots remain, new life will come again. That’s what we are celebrating at Christmas – that in the middle of the darkness, when everything appeared dead- when the Israelites were doubting God, thinking He had forgotten His promise to send them a Savior – new life entered in.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2)

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ ” (John 8:12)

That’s the message of Advent – the root has come to life and has given life to you and to me and to all who will receive God’s gift – the Root of Jesse – Jesus Christ.

“For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

sincerely, Grace Day

dandelion wars

Posted on by Grace Day

Yes, I am still battling the dandelions in my yard and they are winning! By this time of year, I would have thought the weather would have joined the battle on my behalf and simply killed all the dandelions with cold temperatures. But we have had mild weather so far this fall, so my grass is still green and my dandelions are thriving. (my front porch flowers are still alive also!) I am happy about the latter but not so thrilled about the former.

My battle strategy of late has been both unconventional and utterly unsuccessful. Perhaps it is time to rethink my current methods of dandelion combat. Of course initially, in the spring I employed the services of a lawn care company. They kill the dandelions with their magic weed killing formula applied strategically and liberally. Although, in retrospect, I did have to request additional treatments this past spring/summer, because the dandelions in my yard staged a comeback or they resurrected from the dead? (whichever seems more plausible) Maybe it’s true that “you can’t keep a good dandelion down”?

Now, if you remember from previous posts, the dandelions’ unexpected return to my front lawn resulted in me receiving very legal sounding letters from my HOA. This caused concern and the need for additional anti-dandelion treatments this summer. So you can imagine my surprise at having to deal with dandelions in my front yard once again, during the months of October and now November. The dandelions have staged yet another comeback or possibly a successful coup! And they appear to be multiplying!

I don’t see the dandelions initially when they are bright yellow because they are low to the ground and hidden by the grass. But then, as if by magic, my lawn is filled with silver spheres of fluff atop long, slender stems. They are actually kind of beautiful against the backdrop of the still green grass. However, I know what those perfect silver balls of fluff represent – seeds that will turn into more dandelions – hundreds of them. Dandelions are definitely dedicated to God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply!”

So my plan of late has been to pick these stems with the silver fluff spheres full of seeds while the spheres of seeds are still intact. Then I carefully deposit said silver seed spheres into the trash. My reasoning is that if I get them before the wind has a chance to blow the fluff balls apart, thus scattering the seeds everywhere, I can prevent the seeds from falling to the ground, germinating and producing exponentially more dandelions.

Every day I execute this battle plan to perfection. I pick and dispose of all visible dandelion silver fluff balls, taking great care not to set loose into the air any of the seeds. This is ironic because as a child one of my favorite activities was blowing apart the dandelion fluff, so I could watch it float away, carried on the wind. Doing this was strangely magical and satisfying simultaneously, because just like birthday candles, one always makes a wish before attempting to blow all the fluff (aka seeds) off the dandelion stem.

While others were wishing upon stars, I was wishing with dandelion fluff and in so doing, I was aiding and abetting the dandelions in their mission to multiply, cover the earth and subdue it. Little did I know that years later, I would find myself fighting against dandelion multiplication, in an effort not to arouse the ire of my HOA. To this end, I persevere in picking dandelions from my lawn before they have a chance to disperse their seeds.

At present, however, this is not a successful strategy. Every day when I arrive home from work, I notice my front lawn again adorned with multiple stems topped with silver spheres of fuzz, even though just the day before I had removed every single one. Not only this, but their numbers seem to be increasing each day, despite my vigilance and persistence. I am losing the dandelion wars big time.

Why isn’t my battle strategy working? Maybe because, as is inevitable, some of the dandelion fluff is blown away before I get the chance to remove the dandelions from my yard. I can’t keep watch twenty-four/seven, so some seeds will succeed in floating away and taking new territory. Realizing I need to be more proactive, I also pick any yellow dandelions I see, so they don’t even have the chance to turn into seed filled fluff. But somehow, there are still plenty of silver fluff balls that appear as if by magic, even though I thought I had picked off all the yellow dandelions before they could go to seed.

Clearly, I am not getting to the root of the problem. (pun intended) My battle strategy to date has not included digging up the roots of the flowers (or weeds as they are more commonly called). Digging up dandelions by their roots is hard work and takes much more time than simply plucking the tops off of the plants. I would have to get down on my knees. I would have to be willing to get my hands dirty. I would need to put in the time and the effort needed to win this dandelion war. Clearly, I am not that committed.

At this point it occurs to me that getting to know my adversary better, would enable me to form a more effective battle strategy. To this end, I have studied my enemy and in the process, have learned some fun facts about dandelions.

Dandelions have really good roots. This is why they survive and even multiply in less than ideal, even adverse conditions that kill other plants. This explains why the dandelions in my yard thrive even while my grass withers in the summer heat. I think dandelions have better, sturdier, stronger roots. And my research proved me correct. Sonya Query, master gardener, says this about dandelions – “They can grow in almost any condition and can regenerate from a little piece of root left behind when weeding.”

Resilient – that’s what dandelions are. Query also says dandelions have long tap roots which are hard to pull out in their entirety. This is why dandelions are so hard to eliminate permanently. Because of how quickly their seeds can spread and how deep their roots can grow, defeating dandelions is definitely a daunting task. It is precisely their deep root that makes them so hard to get rid of. And each dandelion plant can produce up to 20,000 viable seeds which are dispersed by wind over long distances. Dandelions are definitely a formidable foe! No wonder I am losing the war.

BUT – now that I have studied my enemy, the dandelion, I kind of admire and respect my adversary. Why? Well, besides being beautiful (I love their sunny yellow color and their mystical silver fluff ball beauty) they are also strong, tenacious, resilient and adaptable to multiple circumstances and conditions. Dandelions are survivors. Dandelions are tenacious. Just when you think you have them beat, they stage a comeback. Dandelion’s are overcomers.

I want to be more like the dandelions adorning my yard. Just as their roots run deep, I want my faith roots to run deep, deep enough to survive all of life’s storms and changes in circumstance – just as the dandelions survive their constantly changing weather environment. They not only survive, they thrive and multiply because of their deep roots.

How ironic that after learning more about my adversary, the dandelion, I want to be more like my foe. I want my roots to run deep, so deep that I will be steadfast in adversity – so deep that I will remain faithful and even flourish when I find myself in the hostile environments of governments and of cultures and of historical times. I will be like the trees described in Jeremiah –

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Being deep rooted like the dandelions is necessary for the survival of my faith.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7)

Rooted in Christ, the solid Rock, (now there’s a paradox for roots) – I can withstand life’s storms and furnaces, of which there have been and will be many. Remember, the dandelion will grow back if even a little of its root is left in the soil. So will my faith be preserved through every flood, furnace and tornado of life as long as even a mustard seed remains. And like the dandelions, who Query says “can grow in almost any condition”, my faith can flourish no matter my circumstances. In fact, Paul says –

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

Having the roots of my faith in Jesus Christ, that’s the key – just as the dandelions’ deep roots are the key to their survival. It’s like Paul told the Ephesians –

“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

“being rooted in love” – God’s infinite, lavish, undeserved, undying, compassionate, merciful, eternal love – love, that’s good soil, the kind of soil in which my roots can run deep like the roots of the dandelions that have taken up residence in my yard, the kind of soil in which my faith can grow strong and produce fruit – just like the dandelions! (who are no longer my adversaries but possibly my new role models)

I guess the dandelion wars are over . . .

sincerely, Grace Day