(image found on muppet.wikia.com)
The other day on Sesame Street, there was an episode when the stinkweed could not “grow” his flower because he was too stressed out about the upcoming flower show competition. In fact, no matter what he did, his flower would not grow and bloom until some random famous person sat next to him and sang him a song about how “he’s unique”. And, after repeating this mantra several times to himself, he bloomed and ended up winning the show!
Of course, once his flower bloomed and he won, his smell came out. And boy was it stinky.
Everyone was so surprised that something so “beautiful” could be so “stinky”.
Isn’t that like much of life around us?
We work so hard for something to grow that we “KNOW” should be beautiful and perfect and the “just needed” addition to our life. But when it does bloom, it actually smells worse than what we imagined?
Now, of course, this wasn’t the point behind the Sesame Street skit. Stinky is beautiful reigned there.
But in life.
Sometimes we water the things we should not. Sometimes we encourage the things we should not. Sometimes we grow the things we should not.
And they grow.
And they bloom.
And they thrive.
Because we, the gardeners, have watered and tended to them.
Unfortunately, when they bloom, they stink.
And then we’re stuck.
We’re stuck with stinkweeds.
We’re stuck with invaders…Invited invaders.
And we’re stuck with more work now than before.
Because we don’t want these stinkweeds to stay.
So we go back. We weed. We make sure that we don’t just cut the top but pull the roots.
And then we spray.
And then we pray.
We wait. Hoping that these weeds are gone.
And we prepare to plant again.
Or we leave the soil barren. After all, the last time it was a lot of work and it was a massive “stink bomb”!
This story has a moral, and it’s this:
You are unique. You don’t need Sesame Street to sit next to you, singing you a song. There is a God that created you to be one of a kind.
And it’s up to you and you alone what kind of garden you tend.
Will you purchase seeds of discontent? Seeds of destruction? Seeds of ugly?
And will you water them, tend to them, and grow them…
Having later to go back and weed.
Or leaving you in the exhausted position of surrender-surrounded by the weeds or barren soil. Tired. Afraid to try again.
Or will you pause before you garden. And think.
Is this good for me?
Does this belong, here, in my life?
Will this be a beautiful addition to me?
And then you plant carefully, wisely, and strategically…
If you are being choked out by weeds, may God help you garden. May you take the time you need to rest, and then may you replant…this time a garden of beauty instead of ashes.
If you have not planted yet, then take the time to think.
Is this the kind of garden I want in my life. Will this bring me beauty? Or heartache?
And then tend carefully to your blooms. Because gardens are fragile.
Like our hearts.
Like our lives.
Don’t plant the stinky. You are too good for that.
And 2 Makes Crazy 