It is often said that weeds are simply misplaced plants. There is a probably a pound of truth in that statement. I just drove past a large field near a church in our neighborhood. In that field there is an abandoned baseball diamond and a lovely labyrinth that, I have learned, was an Eagle Scout project of one of the young men from the church. I always glance over at the labyrinth, silently making a connection with this ancient prayer path. I wonder if it feels somewhat misplaced in this suburban neighborhood. I have walked its path but I have never seen anyone else there. Perhaps it is not so important that it doesn’t see many walkers. Perhaps the important thing is that a young man gave his time,energy and creativity to the sacred geometry that has found a home on this land.

But it was not the labyrinth that particularly caught my eye today. I was instead drawn in by the expanse of yellow that ringed the labyrinth and poured out like syrup onto the baseball field. Dandelions! Dandelions had created a brilliant carpet of maize that held the pattern of the labyrinth in a golden ring. It was so beautiful in its simplicity, in its power.

I recognize that there are people who hate the lowly, long rooted dandelion. These are the people who stand watch, tool in hand ready to poke and dig until they have reached the depth of the root of this ‘weed’. These little yellow flowers are the enemy of the well manicured lawn. Whole chemical companies have been born to do battle against them.  It is true, they do tend to take over…to surround themselves with their friends…as they have in this field.

Anyone who has ever felt misplaced, knows it is not a pleasant place to be. It is certainly painful to have the experience of knowing you are not in the right job or relationship.To find you are not on the right life path or in the faith community that fits who you are and your experience of the Holy.  Thinking oneself to be a ‘weed’, to be misplaced, is difficult. And yet this experience seems to be a part of what it means to be human and can be a place of great growth. Like the dandelions in the field, living bright and large, creating beauty, they are showing their value, shining for all the world to see. I think we can learn something from that. As long as we know our roots are long and strong, we can hold on until we find our fit.

You may be surprised to learn that this Sunday is Dandelion Day. Harriet Godfrey introduced dandelion seeds to St. Anthony Falls on the banks of the Mississippi in 1849. This calls for a celebration, complete with necklaces and crowns of brilliant yellow….dandelions, of course. What we may think of as weed, Ms. Godfrey thought valuable enough to spread around. May it be the same for us.

"Simple and fresh and fair from winter’s close emerging,
As if no artifice of fashion, business, politics, had ever been,
Forth from its sunny nook of sheltered grass–innocent, golden, calm as dawn,
The spring’s first dandelion shows its trustful face."  Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Enjoy what looks to be a fabulous weekend……………