Looking Through Open Eyes

by Michele Boy | May 1, 2025

It’s May! April showers bring May flowers! We got rain!! Over an inch in the northern part of the county. In town, I have dandelions. They don’t look pretty. I mow and they still come up. 
I am torn about dandelions. Dandelions are a healthy, nutrient rich food. They help with chronic disease, delicious in tea or salads. They can be made into a salve for muscle soreness. 
 Bees love dandelions. They are a source of nectar and pollen. 
Yet we mow them down and spray weedkiller to remove them for the perfect looking lawn. 
I wrestle with this decision every spring. Do I mow them? Do I pick them as people drive by and I look silly?
  Just thoughts that run through my head as I mow them down. Maybe this year I will pick some and try it out.
  This week has been extremely busy as I try to get out this paper and I have the graduation edition that is due this weekend. I am going to my daughter’s track meet, trying to get a load of laundry done, etc. 
 I had to laugh the other day. I had a Mary vs. Martha moment. If Jesus was sitting in my living room and my family was doting on Him, I would probably scream asking why no one was helping me. 
I’m just being honest. How many moms out there are trying to be all things? If my attitude is awful, the mood in the house suffers. At the same time, I need my family to pick up some of the things I can’t get to. It’s tricky.
  We went to our first livestock show of the season on Sunday. It was a lot like competing in the Olympics and you had never practiced. LOL. 
But I was proud of how well the animals walked in the arena, braced when the judge felt them, and how respectful our daughter was when she came in last. She shook the judges hand and walked out of the ring with class. 
  She has so much to teach me. I can be awful when things don’t go my way. I can act like a child sometimes. Please note she can too. HA. But she handled this well. 
  How do you handle yourself when it all falls apart? 
I saw a t shirt that said, “Make Adjustments NOT Excuses:”
  So this week we have spent a little extra time in the barn. We have worked on feeding differently and also a few things in the barn that needed some attention.
  I hope on Saturday she sees a little better outcome.
I truly believe that harder times can help shape you if you are surrounded by people who can motivate you and not condemn you. 
 On Wednesday, my daily bible verse came up. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” - Romans 8:1.
I laughed as I thought to myself, well I am condemned because I tend to walk in the flesh far more than the Spirit!
But if I look back on my life, I live far more in the Spirit than I have before. The person who sees me on the street or at a livestock show may not see that but if you knew me back then!
  A Christian televangelist, Joyce Meyer, said, “I’m not where I am supposed to be. But thank God I am not where I used to be.”
  Wednesday was set to be a day full of emotion. As I am writing this Wednesday morning I can’t guaratee how it will go. But as I write this, I sit with grace and mercy towards myself that I see growth in me. 
  Can you look at yourself today with honest, open eyes? Look at yourself from where you were. Have you made strides? Have you changed for the better? 
  I will be honest, I cannot do this life on my own. I need Him. If you feel the same, you can reach out to someone you feel comfortable with who has a faith you see fitting in your own life. It doesn’t always look the same. 
I cringe when people say if your church does this, it isn’t Christan. Be careful on that slippery slope. God can use anyone and anything. That is how I got here. 
  But I love the prayer that lets the Holy Spirit in. It guides me towards what is right for me and what isn’t. It opens my eyes to things I never saw before - Kind of like the dandelions on the lawn. 
Maybe some things are right in front of our face and we are missing them.