Selfless Dandelion

Personification. Giving an inanimate object human characteristics. The lonely cloud. The waving tree. The dancing flowers. The selfless dandelion. 

Except, dandelions are kinda selfless if you think about it. A dandelion begins as a weed growing...everywhere pretty much. I will call it a flower because I want to. It starts as a yellow flower. The petals bright and fluffy.  It then something happens. The flower begins to die. It begins to lose its petals. In their place seeds are formed. Soon the dandelion is a full head of seeds. Then the wind blows, animals walk by, the rain falls, or little kids come along and soon all the seeds have taken off. They are carried away by the wind. Soon the plant, if it is still standing, is empty of all seeds. The seeds then begin to germinate and a new plant is formed. The process is repeated over and over again. 

So why did I call the dandelion selfless? Because it gave its life to give new life. For new dandelions to grow, the previous dandelions had to die to become seeds. 

I remember being a kid and finding out my aunt was pregnant. I wanted a girl cousin. So I grabbed a seeded dandelion, made a wish for my aunt to have a girl, and then blew as hard as I could. I blew every single one of those seeds off of the plant. And a few months later we found out my aunt was having a girl. I was so excited. Not only did my wish come true, but many more dandelions were born as well. Jesus talks about a plant like the dandelion In John 12:24, Jesus said, “verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abide the alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

Just like the dandelion and the corn, Paul tells us that we need to die to self. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

When we die to self, other lives are born for Christ. More people can enter into eternal life. We must die daily to our sinful selves and live in Christ to bring others to Christ. We cannot bring someone to Jesus if we focus on ourselves. On our own works. We must focus on the life of Jesus. When others see us, they need to see Jesus. We must die to self and live for Him. It is possible only By God’s Amazing Grace.