The Lesson of the Withered Dandelion
Even a withered life can reflect God's glory!
Welcome!
I’m so glad you are here to keep me company on this life-race!
God is teaching me that even when I am weak, I can run my course, and I can finish it well.
My First Lesson
My first lesson began on a lonely evening, after a long day of pain. I didn’t know how I was going to go on with life, and I told God so. Nothing in me felt brave or stalwart. Emotional pressure had been building for days, and that night, I gave in, put my face in my hands, and let myself cry.
Afterward, I watched the light dim outside my window. Evenings were depressing. Every night I had a sense of loss. Another day was gone, spent “uselessly”, like the many useless days before it.
Is this “it”? I asked God. Is my life over? If I can’t serve You any more, what is the use?
As I prayed, it seemed the Lord spoke to me. Just one sentence. One galvanizing thought. It was this:
You have a choice: (That was surprising, because I didn’t think I had any left.)
You can either sit here slowly dying, or you can press on to live the life you do have.
I didn’t know it, but I had just experienced a watershed moment. As you might guess, I immediately made a choice to go on, and it changed the trajectory of my life.
Even though I made the decision, I had no idea what to do. But how, Lord? I asked.
Very soon afterward, God gave me the first step:
The Withered Dandelion
I was reading an essay by Lilias Trotter, a missionary to Algiers, who lived many years ago. One early morning, she took a walk through a wood, still full of night shadows. All was gloom for a time. But suddenly, something shone out of the darkness like “a great golden star”.
Of course, it wasn’t really a star. The amazing light turned out to be…a dandelion.
It wasn’t even a great specimen of a dandelion. It was half-withered.
“But, it was full face to the sun, and had caught into its heart all the glory it could hold, and was shining so radiantly that the dew that lay on it…made a perfect aureole round its head. And it seemed to talk, standing there—to talk about the possibility of making the very best of these lives of ours.”
(from “A Passion for the Impossible” by Miriam Huffman Rockness.)
I identified with that dandelion. It was only a weed, and past its prime. Like me. Not very important, and definitely on the “old” side. But, it wasn’t spending its time mourning about its drooping petals. It had lost its own beauty, but not the ability to reflect beauty!
That gave me hope. I thought of 2 Corinthians 3:18(ESV):
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
The lesson was clear: Even a withered life can reflect the Lord’s glory.
I could still have a purpose–even a beauty. Like the little flower, I could catch into my heart all the glory I could hold.
I purposed right then to be a person with my gaze fixed, not on my problems, but on my Lord. A person who tarried long with Him. Who praised and gave thanks, rather than groaning or complaining.
It was my first step. In the time that has passed since then, a changed focus has made all the difference for me, and turned my dark path into one full of His light.
There would be many more lessons to come, but this was the first.
What about you? Where is your focus? Is it on your loss, your pain, your trials? Are you obsessing like I was about the things you cannot do? I hope this little story encourages you to gaze at Jesus until you glow with His presence.
Because even a withered life can reflect the Lord’s glory!
Let’s finish strong!
Cynthia Bailey-Powell