Dandelions and Walmart Bags

For those of you who don't know me in real life, crochet is a huge part of my existence. It started out as a hobby two years ago and has since become sort of a small business. My greatest customer base comes from friends at school, so I wasn't too surprised when a friend of mine came up and asked me to crochet an unusual gift for his fiance a few months ago. Apparently they have some sort of inside joke about a bearded pirate teddy bear, so that's what he asked me to create. Interesting! Anyhow, I did so, and waived his offer of pay in order to make this their wedding gift. I had already been invited to attend the wedding, so I planned to take the bear with me and just get it to him that way. Unfortunately, it was not until the morning of the wedding that I remembered a crucial element of gift giving... wrapping paper. Oops. I live in a dorm and have no car, so naturally since I forgot to wrap the gift until the morning of, I had no way of acquiring gift wrap before the wedding. I hastily (and guiltily) wrapped the bear in the only covering I could find - Walmart bags. Classy. Needless to say, I was ashamed of my unsightly gift, regardless of my pride in its contents. I was relieved when the multitude of gifts already on the table when we arrived at the reception hall allowed for it to be buried in pretty packages and hidden from view. At the end of the reception, the groom came up to me and furtively asked which gift the bear was in. I hesitantly described the packaging amid apology for its appearance, and though he did give me sort of an odd look, he laughed it off and headed toward the gift table with enthusiasm. With the help of some staff and groomsmen, he pulled aside beautiful boxes and tasteful gift bags and dug through the pile to reach an ugly grey plastic-wrapped lump. As they left the reception hall, my unsightly gift was tucked under his arm and he was grinning with the anticipation of presenting this special gift to his new wife. Even though mine was undoubtedly the most ugly present on that table, he sought it out specifically and chose it from among all the others to take with them when they left the wedding. Despite its shabby appearance, mine was given the honor of being the first gift opened by the new bride and groom. 

Sometimes I feel as though my gifts to God are like that. I look at all of the beautiful, useful, important talents that my friends and those I admire present to Him, and am awed by their beauty and purpose. My own shabby talents I would rather hide under a pile and forget. I think to myself, "Wow! Her gift of discernment is so amazing! It's great how she uses that to show people where God is already leading them! Oh, what an awesome talent he has! It's great that he can correct people in love with such accuracy and help them get back on God's path! But as for me... the gift of exhortation... what's that supposed to do? I cheer up people who are already awesome. What good is that?" For the longest time, I thought my gift was useless. Pointless. Unsightly. While others rejoiced in their spiritual gifts of discernment or teaching or evangelizing, I wandered around encouraging people quietly, assuming that it had no real bearing on their spiritual life and wishing I had a better gift to offer up. A couple of weeks ago though, a friend I had lived and worked with at camp last summer came to visit me, and we ended up hanging out with one of my best friends here. When my guest asked for funny stories about me, my dear friend thought about it for a while then replied that she couldn't really think of any. The only stories she could think of that involved me were ones in which I had influenced her life by uplifting her in a time when she really needed it. This absolutely floored me... the gift which I thought was nice, but kind of pointless had actually impacted the life of someone I love to the point that those times were the first ones she thought of when asked for stories of me. What an honor! I am constantly amazed by the way that God takes the things we would rather hide and brings them into the light and shines His glory upon them. 

A song that another dear friend introduced me to recently explains the same concept a little differently. A boy picks some beautiful yellow flowers to give to his mother, and she joyously receives them and sets them in a place of honor, when in reality the "flowers" he was so thrilled to offer her were dandelion weeds. In the same way, God takes our loving efforts to please Him, as ragged and unsightly as they may be, and makes them into something beautiful and honored. The chorus exclaims,

"Lord, search my heart

Create in me something clean!

Dandelions -

You see flowers in these weeds."

May we offer up our gifts and talents to God with enthusiasm. Let us not hold back or be ashamed because we compared ourselves to others, but rather may we be be secure in His joy at our efforts and do our best for Him.

Dandelions by Five Iron Frenzy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLwvtEUiQXw