virtues unknown

Image via Wikipedia

My parents live at the top of a coulee in Southern Alberta that leads down to the Old Man River. The coulees leading into this river bottom got there start at the end of the last ice age when a lone glacier rolled down the prairies cutting a channel in the rich black soil. Over the years this channel was changed into a valley with coulees lining its edges.

At the bottom of my parent’s coulee is a large patch of thistles.

There are few weeds which frustrate a farmer more than thistles. Some say that thistles can regrow if even a quarter inch of root is left in the ground, and that thistle seeds can remain in the soil for decades before a timely rain makes them spring from the earth.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This patch of thistle, though, is extremely beautiful. The green spiny stems which bear purple flowers on their heads. The vibrant colours which give way to a gorgeous thin white down bearing seeds.

Thistle seeds; the beloved food of finches.

Sitting out in my parents front lawn, looking out over that patch of thistles I came to appreciate them for more than just their beauty. Without the thistles and their seeds there would be no beautiful flashes of yellow which dart around the yard.

Too often we are blind to the value of things because we refuse to really look at them.

Too often we are blind to the value of people because we refuse to truly look at them.

Every time we vilanise another people group; someone who is different than us, someone who does not live like we do, someone who does not keep their house as clean, someone who comes from a different cultural background, someone who thinks about God differently than we do.

Every time we do this we refuse to really look at them.

Who is the “other”? A person whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

Take time today, this weekend, to really look at others. To try and discover the virtues that God has planted in all people.

After all, we are all made in his image.