Can you find beauty in these thorn-filled weeds? Some have found a use for them… in a song!

I love “The-Glass-Is-Half-Full” people.

I tolerate “The-Glass-Is-Half-Empty” people. They bore and drain me and do not speak to the quest in my own heart.

Bob Nolan comes to mind here. He observed a common, ugly and prickly weed that when dried breaks off from the root and is sent by the wind scurrying along until it meets a fence or other obstruction where it awaits removal while dropping its seeds into the ground to help continue to torment and aggravate people.

Bob witnessed this obnoxious weed and chose to memorialize it in song recorded by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers … “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.” It’s quit a leap to go from clearing a fence line of these troublesome weeds to the words of Bob’s last verse:

I’ll keep rolling along

Deep in my heart is a song

Here on the range I belong

Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

I honor those who can pull victory out of defeat … who can pluck something good from something decidedly bad … who can see through tough times to good times beyond. The Apostle Paul had this attitude. When told that his enemies were preaching with good success he replied, “Good … at least the Gospel is being spread.

James talks about coming through turmoil and temptations not only intact, but with faith stronger and maturity maturing. The Psalmist made this statement in Psalm 112: “Light shines in the darkness for the godly.^” 

Keep this truth in mind this week: If there can be beauty in a tumbleweed, then there can be purpose and joy in the seeming ugliness of life. We know the ending to the story and it tips riotously in our favor. For when all is said and done, the glass and our joy are not just half full, but overflowing with the goodness of our Heavenly Father toward us.

A needed reminder from July 13, 2010… taken from Fresh Heart For A New Day, Volume 1 for May 29th