“But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow
where people want something else.
In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit.
Weeds are people’s idea, not nature’s.”
~ Anonymous
I have been enjoying seeing all the “weeds” along the roads as I am out riding my bike or walking. I had an inspiration of what gift it might be if we were to all begin working with nature by planting only wildflowers.
Just the idea of these beauties having been unwanted seems more than just a bit foolish. They are very hardy plants that seem to be thriving even with this summer’s excessive heat and lack of rain.
This stream of thought about weeds soon led me to looking at other aspects of my life that might not automatically have been seen as gifts. If I am totally honest, the wild parts of my own nature have often been treated as weeds rather than treasured as wildflowers.
I certainly did not see the inherent beauty in my having to leave school in the tenth grade because I was expecting a child. Many assumed weeds were growing in my soul when I left my church and began the journey to becoming an Ordained Interfaith Minister. Others assumed something was amiss as I became trained in Healing Touch™.
In ways sometimes accessed only through the blessing of hindsight, it has been quite a sacred journey to realize that there is profound beauty in what grows wild. My ordination ceremony was July 12, 1997. It does not seem possible that it could really only have been fifteen years ago I became a Minister of Reunion. Today my heart welcomes the beauty of the wildness in the weeds of my own nature that led me to say, “Here I am, Lord…. I will hold your people in my heart.”
I am still saying YES to the divine within all of life as I sing the words of my ordination song, Here I Am Lord. The music and the lyrics are by Dan Schutte. (Copyright 1981)
I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in darkness now
My hand will save.
I who make the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord. It is I Lord.
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, where you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord. It is I Lord.
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, where you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide,
Till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord. It is I Lord.
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, where you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
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