I was walking loops for exercise this summer when I noticed a pretty white flower growing in the weeds off to the side.
I automatically assumed it was “Yarrow.” At the time I didn’t really know what “Yarrow” looked like other than it has small white flowers.
After several more loops, I decided to stop and actually fact check with my Seek nature app to see what type of flower this was.
Lo and behold! It wasn’t “Yarrow.” It was “Wild Carrot.”
Who knew! I had no idea there was such a plant as “Wild Carrot.” Evidently, it also goes by the names: “Bird’s Nest” … and “Queen Anne’s Lace.”
I had no idea! I have heard of “Queen Anne’s Lace”, but I’ve never actually seen it before! How exciting!
And sure enough … check out the spent blooms … they do indeed look just like tiny birds’ nests. How cool is that!
I wonder if “Wild Carrot” is edible?
According to AI – yes, it is! “The roots are a pale cream-color to light-orange and smell distinctly like cultivated carrots when broken. They are smaller and more fibrous than garden carrots. However, they are not as flavorful as cultivated carrots.”
Well, that’s something I never knew before.
As I studied with curiosity my new-found discovery, I noticed a dark speck in the center of the bloom. Is that a bug? No. It seems to be part of the flower.
How strange. Is it supposed to be like that? Is there something wrong with that one tiny dark flower in the center of the bloom??
Ahhhh … check it out: “The name ‘Queen Anne’s Lace’ was adopted because Queen Anne of Great Britian was adept at making lace. The allusion was carried further by saying the red flower in the middle is when she pricked her finger and a drop of royal blood fell on the flower.”
I had no idea. How interesting.
Exactly one week later hubby and I were hiking high up on the slopes of Mt. Rainier, at Sunrise. On our way back down the trail, I noticed off to the side a white-blooming flower. “Oh, there’s ‘Queen Anne’s Lace,’” I thought.
No … I don’t think that’s “Queen Anne’s Lace” after all. There’s no dark red spot in the center of the bloom.
What is it?? I have no idea.
I was way too high in elevation and too far from civilization to have cell service.
I’d have to take a photo and wait til I got back to cell service to try to identify it.
A few paces further down the trail I came across another white-blooming flower. I automatically assumed it was the exact same type of flower I had just seen a few paces back. Once more there was no dark red spot in the center. Obviously, this is not “Queen Anne’s Lace” either. But what is it??
Hubby and I finished our hike at Sunrise and decided to drive another hour and a half further south to Paradise (on the southern side of Mt. Rainier).
Upon arriving at Paradise, I came across yet another white-blooming flower (which I automatically assumed to be the exact same type as the two previously seen up at Sunrise). Obviously, this was not “Queen Anne’s Lace” because there was no dark spot in the center of the bloom.
What type of flower is it?? I have no idea.
A few weeks later hubby and I were in central Washington when I came across yet another white-blooming flower.
Ah, now this was “Yarrow.”
Yarrow doesn’t look anything like the other white-blooming flowers I came across high up on the slopes of Mt. Rainier.
What were those other three white-blooming flowers??
A few days ago, I sat down at my computer and pulled up my Seek nature app on my phone to try to identify them.
The first white-blooming flower which I had come across at Sunrise, it said was “Poison Hemlock.”
No! I don’t believe that at all! There’s no way that could be Poison Hemlock. Right away I pulled out my Wildflower identification book. Poison Hemlock is non-native. There’s no way a non-native plant would be growing that high up in altitude, in a place which has not been disturbed by human activity. Sunrise is buried in snowpack most of the year. There’s no way that’s Poison Hemlock. The photos don’t even match.
The second white-blooming flower which I had come across at Sunrise, it said was “Gairdner’s Yampah.”
Ok … that might be right. Studying my Wildflower identification book, it seemed a fairly correct identification. “Gairdner’s Yampah” is native and known to grow in alpine meadows. That all adds up correctly. The photo in my Wildflower identification book also matched.
The third white-blooming flower which I had come across at Paradise, my Seek nature app said was “Common Cowparsnip.” But it was confused … it also tried to tell me it was “Goutweed.” And I also got the result that it was “Gray’s Lovage.”
Which is it??
How do you make sense of such confusion??
As I was sitting at my computer, thoroughly confused … pouring over my Wildflower identification book … trying to make sense of the confusion … at that very moment I got a text from my daughter: our dear friends had just lost their tiny 21-week old (in the womb) daughter.
How do you make sense of such confusion??
That very day was also the due date for another very dear precious friend of ours.
Two days later, this very dear precious friend delivered a healthy, full-term baby boy.
How do you make sense of such confusion??
On my phone I now have photos side-by-side of our very dear precious friend with her healthy baby boy (just after delivery), immediately followed by photos of our other dear friends (on the exact same day) holding their little preemie saying their final farewells.
How do you hold such joy and such pain simultaneously in your heart??
How do you make sense of such confusion??
My pastor often talks about having a “Mystery Box.” Some things in life we will never know. We need to have a “Mystery Box” … and into this “Mystery Box” we place those things which are so confusing. All the things we wrestle with. All the things we struggle with. All the “Why” questions.
God invites us to be real with him. God welcomes our grief … and our questions.
We can ask our “Why” questions. But that doesn’t mean God will always answer them.
We have to put all our confusion and all our “Why” questions in the “Mystery Box” … and give our “Mystery Box” to Jesus.
One day … when we see Jesus face-to-face, he will wipe every tear from our eyes. Jesus will open up our “Mystery Box” and he will make everything plain to us. We will finally know.
But until then … we put our confusion in the “Mystery Box.”
And we give our “Mystery Box” to Jesus.
When it comes to my confusion over the white-blooming flowers … one thing is certain: I know for certain what “Queen Anne’s Lace” is.
Another thing I now know for certain: I know for certain what “Yarrow” is.
As for the other three mystery blooms high up in the alpine meadows of Mt. Rainier … those go in the “Mystery Box.” I don’t know what they are. And it’s ok. They were beautiful. And they brought my heart joy because of their beauty.
So too, in life, when it comes to those things we can’t make sense of, there are some things which we know for certain: We know that God is good. We know that God loves us.
Those two things are certain!
God is good. And God loves us.
Everything else goes in the “Mystery Box.”
“Grief is not an interruption to life. It is life reshaped. It reorganizes the brain, it rewrites relationships, it alters our identity, and it asks us to live alongside an absence. This cannot be rushed no matter how much the world urges speed.” (- author unknown)
