It’s All In How You Look At Life...

This time of year, I can NEVER keep ahead of the dandelions in my lawn!

Every time that I start to look at them as a nuisance, I remember the moment that my oldest child taught me to look at life in a different way...

It has been over a decade now, but when Erin was very small, she was my constant companion on grocery trips, errands etc. but we often had to take them at HER pace, especially if it was close to nap time or any meal.

There was a certain day in may when she was 3 that we had left the car for servicing at the Co-op and walked over to do our groceries together. We finished that task and had our snack, but there were still about 15 minutes to wait until the car was going to be ready. Since it was a lovely day, we left the groceries in the parcel pickup area and headed outside to wait on the grassy lawn beside the building which was awash with hundreds of dandelion blooms.

I sat down on the lawn carefully, trying to avoid staining my jean shorts as Erin began to gather a huge bouquet of the yellow flowers. Stroking one particularly puffy dandelion rather lovingly, she looked over at me.

“God must really LOVE dandelions!” she announced.

I’d been so busy looking at the same dandelions as annoying weeds that her comment caught me by surprise.

“Why do you say that?” I remember asking her.

“Because God made them soft and YELLOW... and yellow is such a HAPPY colour!” she replied reaching for another huge dandelion as if it should be obvious.

Have you ever truly watched a small child touch dandelions or pick a bouquet?

She taught me to think about how I look at life all over that day. Eleven springs later, I think of what she said every time I see a huge patch of dandelions or spend time on my knees digging them out of my lawn one by one.