DANDELION PEOPLE

April 20, 2020

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Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hair-styles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 1 Peter 3:3 and 4 NLT

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I took Makayla for a walk after a long winter. Looking for flowers, I imagined she would pick crocus or tulips, the best-dressed of spring. Instead, she looked down at the dandelion weeds growing out of the sidewalk. “There are some. They’re yellow!” She jumped a few steps further. “There’re more!” she announced, gleefully. What we would spray with weed killer, she saw as beautiful.

 

Do we look at some people like the dandelions we see through our adult eyes – scraggly, frightening, not fitting neatly in the garden of life; or do we see them like the flowers Kayla saw – beautiful, proud and bright, in spite of growing in the most barren surroundings?

 

Like Johnny, my client; Johnny wears fatigues and a “do-rag,” and combat boots. His dirty hair and beard have grown to his waist. He is extremely intelligent, but Johnny is a victim of mental illness. He rambles, but he probably knows more scripture than you or I; he knows right from wrong.

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In spite of his surroundings, Johnny is always in a happy mood. He has a beautiful soul. The more I know him, the more I love his heart. Some might fear seeing Johnny on the street; I greet him with true affection, as he stands alone on the sidewalk – a dandelion among the tulips. And I thank God for dandelions and dandelion people.