The Wrong Garden

I was walking in the middle this morning, as usual, when my mind started to wander...also as usual. It was a beautiful, warm, early summer day. Spring’s bloom had faded, with only the heartier plants surviving the season’s growing heat.

As I looked at all the plants scattered across the hills—growing wild and free—I realized something: many of these are the same kinds of things I pull out of my backyard and call weeds. But out here, in the open and untamed, they’re not weeds. They’re part of the natural flora. They belong.

That got me thinking about the word “weed.” According to the Oxford dictionary, a weed is “a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants.” In other words, a weed isn’t defined by what it is, but by where it is.

If I were trying to grow a lush, green lawn and a rose bush took root in the middle of it, it wouldn't matter how beautiful those roses were. They’d still be considered weeds. It wouldn’t matter how fragrant their blooms or how perfectly their petals were shaped. The fact remains: they don’t belong there. And so, they’d be pulled.

But if that same rose bush were transplanted to an arboretum, it would thrive. It would be valued, appreciated—even protected. Same rose bush. Different garden.

And maybe the same is true in life.

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you know you’re good at something—but that skill just isn’t needed? Where you feel out of place, underappreciated, maybe even unwanted? That doesn’t make you a weed. You might just be a rose bush growing in the wrong garden.

So the next time you feel uncomfortable, overlooked, or out of place, take a moment. Look around. See what else is growing near you. And ask yourself:

Are you really a weed...or just a rose bush that hasn’t found the right soil yet?