Devotion for May 6, 2021 from Pastor Tim Huff of Holy Trinity:
Never Blow on a Dandelion
Many of us have memories of blowing the billowing tufts of dandelion seed heads to make wishes and clear all the wispy seeds in one strong breath.
The plants make for strong childhood memories, though many grown-up gardeners find them annoyances in the garden. When we were younger and our plant science knowledge not quite advanced, we might have thought how fun it was to find a dandelion and blow it.
I can recall many adults reminding me that dandelions were weeds and a nuisance. I would quickly respond that they’re fun to blow on because the fuzz swirls all around and goes all over the place.
The problem is that all those little fuzzy things are dandelion seeds, and when you blow on them, they land all over the yard and grow into more dandelions. They can blow across the fence into your neighbor’s yard. So just by blowing on a dandelion we’ve planted weeds in both ours and the neighbor’s yard!
These past weeks as I have been in my yard removing dandelions and other weeds, I was reminded of my early botany lesson.
I started thinking about my words and actions. Sometimes they’re good, but sometimes they hurt people. If you say something mean to someone the words leave your lips, travel through the air and land on that person’s heart. It’s like you planted a weed in their heart. Our actions do the same.
Our words and actions should be pleasing to God. Psalm 19:14 says:
“May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, Yahweh, my rock and my redeemer!”
So, the message today is to never blow on a dandelion – and never use words or actions which hurt people.
I mean, we don’t want to plant weeds in someone else’s yard, do we? And we certainly don’t want to put hurt in someone else’s heart, either.
May we go through this week spreading acts of love and healing.
Peace,
Pastor Tim
