To Pull or Not to Pull, That is the Question!

Read: Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5

The other day as I was cleaning up in the yard, I noticed that they are back and blooming. Yes, the dandelions are making their appearance everywhere. Even growing in the rocks. So, wherever I encountered a clump of the fluffy little guys, I pulled it up and tossed it into the yard trash bucket. However, this morning I wondered. Why do I pull dandelions? Are they really a weed, and do they have a purpose? Here is a bit of an answer to both questions:

They are considered to be a weed because

1. They grow in places where turfgrass is desired.

2. Their yellow flowers and green leaves break the uniformity of a “perfect” lawn biologyinsights.com.

However, they are beneficial because

1. They are pollinators: They provide early‑season nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators Southern Living.

2. Nutrition: The leaves are edible and rich in vitamins A, C, B12, and potassium; the roots can be roasted like coffee College of Agriculture & Natural Resources.

3. Medicinal uses: Traditionally used for digestive, liver, and diuretic purposes College of Agriculture & Natural Resources.

4. Soil health: Their deep roots help break up compacted soil and bring nutrients to the surface biologyinsights.com.

I'm starting to like these little flowers. They seem to have, at least in my thinking, been designed by Creator God with their own kind of beauty and purpose.

Beauty and purpose. Since the Lord has something worthwhile built into even the lowly dandelion, how much more precision and detail has He put into His care over each human being? We don't have to guess about that or look it up to discover the thoughts or opinions of authors because tucked into the psalms, we read what the Author of Life has to say about us. The ones that are the crown of His creation because we are made in His own image, Genesis 1:27. Before there was the wonderful tool of ultrasound, God told us in His Word about what it looked like in the womb. The beauty of His hidden intricate work in the details that weren't seen until recently.

In Psalm 139:13-16, we receive a God's eye view of His awesome work. We are reminded that God has fashioned each person individually and uniquely. There has never been anyone exactly like any of us. No matter whether we were a surprise to our parents or they "planned" us, God was the real Designer, having placed within us our strengths as well as our weaknesses. God will never make another you. No one will do the things that you do in the same way and with the same precision that you have.

That's true for everyone. Who is like God!

In Jeremiah 1:5, the Creator/Redeemer says a wondrous thing. Not only was the prophet fashioned by God, Jeremiah was set apart for God's purposes before he was conceived. What amazing ramifications this verse and those in the psalms have.

Jeremiah and we, also come Handmade and equipped by God for all He has planned for us to do. His plan for us will not be thwarted, Psalm 138:8. Let's unpack that thought.

For one thing, since God has a plan for us, our deficits can't veto what God can do both in and through us. Our misgivings and our mistakes won't get in the way because God knew we would make them. His grace is bigger than our deficiencies. Why? Because it is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit that God accomplishes His plan, Zechariah 4:6. It is not only us whose lives have beauty and purpose. There is no person who lacks value. No person whose life does not have the imprint of God on it. There is no one who belongs in the "discard bucket." Yes, it is true that many people have wasted the gifts and spurned the love that God held out to them; however, that was never God's desire, and He has no pleasure in anyone's destruction, 2 Peter 3:9; Ezekiel 33:11. Rather, He has held out His arms to those who were not seeking Him, Romans 10:20-21, and He uses our arms to reach out to them too, 2 Corinthians 5:20.

What a privilege it is to be able to tell others that God has created them with beauty and purpose.