Do you like wildflowers? I love them so much my yard is filled with them. All shapes, sizes, colors, blooms, and smells. Where some folks see them as weeds growing along roadways and covering vacant fields, I consider them friendly warriors against my battle with neighboring critters. Deer, woodchucks, rabbits, chipmunks . . . to name a few criminals. One of my favorite wildflowers includes the word “weed” in its name. As part of the sunflower family, Joe-Pye Weed is tall with large clusters of fuzzy flower heads ranging from light pink to mauve. Folklore says a Native American named Joe Pye used the plant to cure fevers and early American colonists treated typhus with it. But all I’m proclaiming is its beauty and tolerance of my rocky clay soil.
Wildflowers hold a special place in God’s heart too. Listen to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. “Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you even seen color and design quite like it? . . . If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving.” Yeah, simple things like wildflowers make me smile and count my blessings.
What’s your favorite wildflower? What kinds are growing in your yard or fields this summer?