The Weeds

I read a quote yesterday that really struck me.

"A weed is a flower planted in the wrong place."  ~George Washington Carver

That little sentence started a thought process of how our perpectives on things affect how we go throughout life.  Perhaps Dr. Carver was trying to convey that if we didn't place a certain plant in our flowerbed, then we view it as an unwanted weed.  But I think he's trying to say that all plants are valuable.  And, in the right setting, weeds could actually be productive and quite lovely.

So I started thinking about how this might apply to humans.  I'm sure we've all heard the saying "Bloom where you're planted."  I've liked that saying for several years.  It reminds me that even though I may not like the situation in which I find myself, just about the only thing I have the power to change is my attitude.  A quick Google search of the phrase led me to a scripture in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 7:17-24.  The first part of verse seventeen says "And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there." (MSG) 

Dr. Carver's quote helps me see a flip side of "bloom where you're planted."  Maybe someone in my life is acting like a weed because of the situation in which he or she finds him/herself.  And while I don't necessarily enjoy the presence of these "weeds," thinking that they might be having trouble "blooming where they're planted" helps me to be a bit more empathetic toward them.  More understanding of their "weedy" attitudes.  Less motivated to pluck them out of my garden. :-)