The thistle in every woman.

I want to tell you the story of a thistle. Do you know it? I know it probably doesn't sound like a grand story, it is a weed after all. But I love a story that whispers softly, the one that requires me to be still in order to hear. What you might know about this weed-it's not easy to take down!! If it's cut, even at the root, it grows back. And there starts the story of the thistle.


The thistle can be found anywhere, and everywhere. It grows in any condition and isn't picky. You will find it thriving in a bed of rocks with hardly any water. You will find it on the side of the road or a highway, exposed to high levels of wind and intense heat. It will even grow through a crack in a slab of concrete. And yet you will also find it in a shaded creek with plenty of water and vegetation. It is persistent and knows no limits.

Wherever it is, you won't miss it- it will be taller than the plants around it. It will rise to any occasion with it's long stems and it will bloom over all the others. It is driven. It is focused.

The thistle may not look like much at first. But surely you know about first impressions- they're often wrong. It's true with this one too.

It's easy to get focused on the sharp leaves. To be turned off by the stems that protect with prickers. The thistle must self preserve and therefore it's serious about it's boundaries. Survival mode does that to many of us.

Once the bud develops, finding it's own voice- it puts on a grand show! It blooms into the most beautiful and magnificent flower you ever seen.

And it didn't even know. It still thought it was a weed! But then one day, it was told- You Are Beautiful. And it changed everything.

The thistle- an amazing lesson on strength. Despite the circumstances. Despite the environment around it. Despite the wind, the flood, the drought, the scorching heat. It adjusts, for it is confident and it knows a few things about being resilient. The thistle knows where it's strength comes from.

As I ran this morning- thinking about the wind in my life right now, about the drought in some of my friends' lives, and the heat that's burning the hearts of many that I love; I was reminded of how the thistle survives. The secret to the thistle is this: it has an incredibly well developed, deep, and strong root system!

The secret is buried deep, not for hiding but for holding on!

The thistle's success is in it's foundation. Come hell or high water, it's strength isn't found in it's beauty, its boundaries, or its height. It's found in it's Anchor!

To: Carrie, Cathy, Melissa, and the woman at the red light in the suburban next to mine (who was sobbing buckets of tears)....this is for you! You Are Beautiful and stronger than you think!