Let Your Inner Wildflower Shine Forth

I have been in full-time ministry for over thirty years and one thing I've learned over time is that the same personality types can be found in every church and every ministry. There are always the super-star, leader types that shine bright. They are the people who seem to be gifted in so many ways. Everything they touch is golden and they are sought out by people everywhere they go.

But the majority of people in every church and ministry are like wildflowers. They may not seem especially gifted, they often stay in the background, and sometimes are taken for granted and seem insignificant. They are a lot like wildflowers you see in a field. Some people look at them and think, "It's just a weed," but to God, the Creator, they have a beauty that is unique and significant. 

The reality is God wants to take ordinary men and women and work through them. When they allow the Lord to mold them and gift them for a particular ministry, their true beauty is revealed. When they are allowing themselves to be the vehicle through whom God works, they are downright spectacular!

Most of us spend our lives looking at the beautiful cultivated flowers and wishing we could be like that. We long to have someone else's gift or ministry. We wish we could be like Superstar Sally or Awesome Al, but if we learn to stay centered in the ministry or calling God has for us, we will be molded into the men and women He has called us to be, and we will be beautiful.

When we take our eyes off the showy roses and peonies of the world, we will find that we will find contentment in whatever ministry He has called us to do. The roses and peonies are beautiful and God has a plan for them. But the daisy, bluebells and buttercup have a purpose as well.

I want to encourage you today to let your inner wildflower shine forth. Stop trying to be a hyacinth or gardenia. If you are a dandelion then be the best dandelion you can be. Because that's when you will shine brightest and that's when God will be able to use you.

If God has called you to be a wildflower then be the best little wildflower you can be!