- COUNTRY ROADS
I recently took a road trip through the country to visit my daughter and her family in Austin TX. As expected, the further I got from the city, the calmer my spirit.
I anticipated the grand display of bluebonnets that we love in the Spring. What I had forgotten was the proliferation of "mustard grass". It is a kind of wiry, bushy plant with mustard yellow flowers that look pretty in masses from a distance. It was brought to the south several years ago from somewhere else because someone thought it attractive. It has since taken over many of the fields and country sides, choking out the native plants.
There were miles and miles of highway flaunting the mustard grass along their roadsides. What was missing? The bluebonnets and Indian paint brushes we Texans love. The mustard grass had taken their places, drinking their water and utilizing their minerals from the soil. I felt kind of sad.
As I neared Austin, the bluebonnets appeared in all their glory-with no mustard grass in sight.
I thought about how we thrive in the places we belong-in our healthy relationships,in our work we enjoy and in places we feel useful. And how sometimes we feel choked out-by expectations (our own and others), by unhealthy relationships and by work that isn't designed for us. Like the mustard grass, some things are pretty from a distance, but may look different up close. And sometimes those things should be left where they belong-allowing us to flourish where we are meant to be.
