Hope and Praise - Learned Through the Dandelions

Each year I ask the Lord to give me a word on which to think upon and use in my life for the year ahead. Last December as I was praying over the word from Him, it was not coming easily. Even with trying to find verses for my calendar for 2020, the ones He was giving me felt very disjointed and never flowing quite right. I kept praying that the lord would give me more clarity, but He chose to give me verses that were not showing a theme as I had wanted, but they were definitely showing His truths.

Finally, the Lord gave me the word I needed for this year and He gave it to me literally right before 2020 began. It is the word HOPE. I will be honest - I questioned it. I felt like that was such a common word we see all around us - like in home decor or our use of the word so casually. Little did I realize how much the Lord would use that word in my life and how it would deepen my understanding of it's true meaning as I have walked through this year.

January and February came and went with "ease" as we can look back on now. (haha)

As March came into play - the word "hope" became something on which I was to cling. When our world abruptly "stopped," my way to "escape" out of the quarantine was to walk - mostly up and down my driveway. I know many people had to find different ways to deal with the grief and sadness at being "yanked away" from socialization. Mine came from the walks. On these walks, the Lord began to teach me more about HOPE in Him and how to PRAISE Him even when I did not understand.

While walking, I began to see many dandelions. Most people hate a dandelion. They are seen as just a weed and are annoying to those trying to get rid of them.

I am not one of those people. I love them and find them captivating.

In my personal opinion, their beauty goes unnoticed. They bloom all around us, yet most walk by and do not take in the details of the magnificent creation that they really are. Over the course of this year, and with life being "put on hold" because of a pandemic, I was able to have time to easily view dandelions come up from the winter soil and begin their life in spring. I have always loved to capture them through my camera lens, but this year they seemed to be calling out for me to view them in a new light... Or maybe the Lord needed to remind me of His truth in something of His creation that I would be able to view in my own yard  since that is where I was confined for some time. So, I grabbed my camera and off I went....

I began looking at the yellow blooms dotting the newly-greening yard and sensing cheer in the midst of uncertainty. I began to see the white of the seeds blowing in the breeze and found myself drawn to them even more than previous years.

While I understand that not everyone feels the same about dandelions, we cannot deny some valuable facts about them:

They have deep root systems - they can grow from 10 to 15 feet deep.

Their greens are full of Vitamin A - which boosts immunity and helps with eyesight.

The entire plant can be used for human consumption with great benefits.

This little "weed" can grow 8-24 inches - and keep growing no matter what the conditions are around it.

Dandelions are actually a part of the daisy family. Yep....see...We love daisies so why not dandelions.

One dandelion flower is actually a combination of 300 flowers that at first look may appear to be petals. 

The seeds are pretty spectacular. Once the flower dries out, the petals fall off and the seeds appear.

The seeds are attached to light and airy "pappi" (the white fluffy part) which allow the seed to spread easily.

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/gardening/7-surprising-facts-dandelions/

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/how-does-a-dandelion-grow-13406401.html

Those dandelions showed me so much of what HOPE and PRAISE in the Lord requires. Much of it is based on that root system!

I must be rooted deeply in God's Word for my hope to remain steadfast and sure. If my time in God's Word is shallow, I will never see His HOPE and be able to praise Him through it all.

After being rooted in the Lord and His Word deeply, I can then grow in Him and be of benefit to others. My spiritual immune system can be stronger and my spiritual eyesight will be clear.

Because the Lord is my HOPE, I can still grow even when the "soil of life" is hard and dry. I can still be a bright influence in the lives of others.

I am not alone - just as the dandelion is part of the daisy family - I am a part of the Body of Christ. I can trust that I have my spiritual family around me.

I must die to my "own" hope - what I might think is best. I have to die to self so that my petals fall off and reveal new seeds which signal new growth that is only possible through the Lord.

Those new spiritual seeds are attached to my Abba "Pappi" so that as they "leave me," I am spreading the Lord's Truths and not my own. In this I am showing PRAISE to the Lord.

Once those seeds fall, they can begin the cycle again in another. That is what being a believer in Christ is all about.

This year has been hard.

It has looked hard for most of us in the same ways because of COVID - but then there are personal hardships each of us have walked through this year - some even that many are not aware.

Personally, my hope in the Lord is stronger because of the hardship. I will never look at a dandelion in the same way because of what the Lord showed me through them this year. I will never look at 2020 without the memory of this year, but at the same time, I will praise the Lord for what He has done in my life through all of the hardship. I think those two words - hope and praise - are needed much in our lives now. We must realize that our hope is in Christ alone and we must praise Him even when we do not understand - even when it is hard. That is why the verse the Lord actually gave me in 2019 for my "year word" of "praise" is so fitting for us now. He knew I would still need to cling to it in 2020. 

And cling I have.

Remember how I said above that the verses the Lord gave me for my calendar of 2020 were "disjointed" and did not follow a theme? Well, every verse for every month has been a truth from the Lord that I have needed at that time. It was His HOPE that kept me steadfast and secure when our world has not made sense around us. In that, I PRAISE Him.