There are a few things that remind me of spring and summer: fireflies, the scent of honeysuckle, and dandelions. Even as a child, I’ve always been fond of those downy domes of fluff. I would clutch a stem in my fingers and blow, watching its feathery wisps dance and scatter through the air.

Beauty in one eye is misery in another. My grandmother always wrinkled up her nose at the buttery heads poking up in her flower bed. 

“Ugh! Dandelions.” She always mentioned them as if tasting something sour.

“Don’t you like dandelions, Grandma?”

She shook her head. “No, honey. They are ornery little things.”

“Why?”

She frowned as she plucked the offensive little blossom from the dirt. “Because there’s no taming them. Those little white fuzzies scatter all over, sprouting weeds everywhere imaginable.”

That very trait is what makes this little flower, some would say weed, so unstoppable. You can mow over them but they come back. They spread their leaves and nothing else can grow underneath it.

That stubborn trait can be good or bad. It depends on what’s being scattered.

Bitterness, love, hope, encouragement, and anger…each of us scatter different things as we go throughout our day. What we produce has far-reaching effects, sometimes spreading beyond our own home and blowing into the lives of others. Love and joy shine a light that pierces the darkest night. Likewise, fear and bitterness can choke out the most fertile soil, rendering it uninhabitable.

The white fluff of a dandelion yields an effect far greater than most would deem possible from a single flower. The same is true for each human life. What are you scattering?