Volunteer Weeds

We’ve all heard the saying that a weed is any plant in the wrong place. I’ve had several plants this year in the wrong place (or at least I didn’t put them there) but I wouldn’t call them weeds. I’ve posted about all the sunflowers the birds dropped around the yard that brightened up everything wonderfully. (If you look closely you can see the bumblebee on one of them)

Volunteer Grain

I assume the plant above came from bird seed from one of the feeders in the back yard. It did quite well where it wasn’t supposed to be. And I like it there. (Good timing and contrast with the guara that’s faded for the season.)

Volunteer Vines

These vines come back each year along the fence. I never planted them there – they just showed up. I look forward now each year to them coming back. Just what the fence needed.

Joe Pye Weed

I had to put this one in since it’s called a weed – and it’s exactly where I planted it.

I do have real weeds (and quite a few of them) in the garden and flower beds by this time of the summer. They are definitely the wrong plants in the wrong places – but I’ll work on removing them along and along.

Thinking about weeds brought this Scripture to mind: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

We can be in the wrong place if we’re out of the will of God (and that’s a different blog post). But, if we’re following Him, God may choose a number of different places for us. Because He chooses them, they’re the right places. I believe we can properly expand the verse above to include not just whatever we do, but to add wherever we are.

Even if we seem to be in the wrong place, we can be like the plants above that aren’t called weeds anymore. They became welcome companions because in their beauty, they reflected the glory of God.