I don’t know if anyone else has looked out their window lately and seen a beautiful array of yellow dandelions? They look nice from afar, in fact, when they are spread out over fields they are beautiful, like a golden blanket covering the cold bare ground. However, when they cover my back yard it is a different story. Dandelions aren’t flowers they are a weed! And while they may look nice in an open field they inhibit any other plants to grow. They spread quickly and will choke out all other plant life and grass seed. They are a pain to get rid of, their roots go down really deep. It is important that you pull out the dandelions with the root,  if you just pull out the leaves or the flower they will continue to grow beneath the surface. The most important thing to take out is the ROOT. It takes forever to get rid of these weeds, I know because I have been doing it for years in our yard, and I am finally starting to see some improvements. I was out for a run yesterday and I saw dandelions growing in yards, pots, gardens, side roads, playgrounds, in sand, dirt, mud and even…in piece of pavement! I almost tripped over my own feet as I ran and when I saw a single dandelion growing up through a piece of pavement! How on earth did that happen? Pavement is a few inches thick and it is solid, durable, and impossible to penetrate…or so I thought! I began to think about this analogy of how something so small and inconspicuous can creep into our yards and spread so ferociously. This caused me to think of the own weeds in my life; things like anger, jealous, bitterness, resentment, hurt, feelings of rejection, abandonment, and…well…you fill in the blank. No matter how strong we think we are we deal with these issues on a daily basis. We keep these feelings and emotions buried under the surface of our facade until we wake up one morning to a field of bright yellow weeds. What are some weeds in your life?  We often think that these areas won’t really affect us or anyone else but the opposite is true. Just like dandelions, these seeds spread and choke out the good things in our lives. If you see the FRUIT you have the ROOT. If I see yellow dandelions in my yard I know the roots are dandelion roots, not grass roots or clover roots of carrot roots! Same in our lives, we often see the fruit which is important to recognize, but the most important thing to explore is the root and how and why it was planted. We need to attack the root and fast. When the dandelions go to seed the wind blows the seeds and they spread like a wild fire! So how do you attack? I am glad you asked…it may be different for different situations but the main ways to let go and get rid of roots is FORGIVENESS! Forgiving isn’t forgetting it it releasing that person and situation and choosing not to blame or harbor resentment towards them. When we forgive someone we let the prisoner go and then realize that the prisoner was us! I find it interesting; the only place that a dandelion will not grow is in water, I passed by a stream on my run and there were dandelions on both side of the stream but NOT in the stream. God’s forgiveness is that stream! Who are you going to forgive today? Don’t let those roots go any deeper, let the dandelion dilemma end today!