When is it bad or good?

When do we consider a plant a weed?

Got any “weeds” in your life?

Simply expressed, a weed is any plant that grows where it isn’t wanted by us.

It is interested to consider, though, that one person’s weed is another person’s wildflower!

Weeds are defined by their tendency to flourish at the expense of a gardener’s overall vision, and we tend to battle their presence in our yards.

Most of us have pulled at least one dandelion up by its roots and disposed of it in the interest of preserving the look of a perfect green lawn, yet the dandelion is good medicine, packed with healing properties and vitamin-rich leaves that are a delicious, spicy surprise in a summer salad. (and it makes a delicious wine too!)

In the wild, there is no such thing as a weed because the overall vision is in the hands of Mother Nature, who accommodates and incorporates all forms of life, not judging or labeling.

And when is an experience a bad one, a weed in our eyes? 

• when we don’t like it?
• when we fear it?
• when we don’t understand it?
• when we expected something different?

I’m thinking it’s a bad experience when… we decide it is!

After all, hindsight often shows us the blessings that have come from what we had labeled as negatives at the time they occurred.

Have you ever looked back and finally seen the silver lining to that cloud? Have you ever re-interpreted the event to acknowledge that you wouldn’t be who you are now without that experience?

• that divorce?
• that bankruptcy?
• that health scare?
• that job loss?
• that death of a loved one?

Was there a blessing that you didn’t see at the time? I have identified some blessings in my life, large and small, from each of the above.

Have you?