I wait for them every year. The Tragopogon Dubious. Also called Goatsbeard, this weed is commonly known as Yellow Salsify.
Walking down our road a couple of weeks ago I wondered when the first ones would appear. I couldn’t conjure, coax, or command their appearance. They emerge when they are ready. They break through the ground when the necessary conditions—whatever those are—are right, and not before. They can’t force those conditions to occur, they must wait until they do.
One day there were none, the next there was one, and then there were many. Brilliant yellow, these carefree little flowers tend to face the sun. While not technically a heliotropic species like Sunflowers who actually track the sun, the Salsify that show up alongside our road and out in our meadow tend to face the sun too. Maybe they just know that it is good to turn towards the light, and so they do.
My anticipation of their arrival grows day by day, and their appearance never ceases to amaze me. It feels like I am witnessing a miracle every time. Out of what the bare ground, open meadow, or the gravely shoulder of our road, what was a seed transforms and emerges as a flower. They don’t jump up and down and say “look at me”, they simply show up, and bring their own unique beauty to the world around them.
Like the rest of the natural world, this yearly emergence of the Salsify speaks of a simple but deep truth. When the conditions are right, new life will appear. What are the conditions necessary within us for that new life, growth, and transformation to take place? Probably not always the conditions that we would choose. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest, teacher, writer, and founder for the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico says that transformation most often occurs through great love or great suffering, and often both at the same time. Because both love and suffering have the potential to crack us wide open, we can find ourselves working mightily to keep both at bay.
But what if we didn’t? What if we allowed them in, invited them to do their work, and welcomed what emerged as a result. I wonder what new life, what growth, what transformation is lying dormant inside of us, just waiting to break through the ground of our hearts. Whatever it is, the world is waiting for it.
