I looked at all the little wildflowers around me, the same flowers many would walk past without noticing, and others would call weeds. The sun had just risen, and it was casting its golden light over the field of flowers. They looked so full of joy. It was almost as if they knew just how beautiful they were.

Merriam-Webster defines weeds as plants that are not valued where they are grown. The only thing that distinguishes this beautiful bouquet of wildflowers in my hand from a bouquet of weeds is the value I place on it. Weeds and wildflowers alike are uncultivated plants. That is, they grow in natural places without being planted by people. It’s the roses, the tulips, the sunflowers, and daisies that are often planted, paid for, and sought after because that’s what the majority is attracted to.

Sometimes we try too hard to be a tulip when God actually intended for us to be a wildflower. The truth is though, just because our beauty isn’t trending doesn’t mean we are not beautifully created. If your beauty isn’t valued by the majority, that doesn’t mean it isn’t still valuable; it certainly doesn’t mean you aren’t valuable. One of the greatest lessons a woman can learn is to see her own value and her own unique beauty. Become your own brand of beautiful—this is truly a woman’s joy. A woman’s joy is a gift she must learn to give herself.

The thing about a wildflower is you’ll never see it trying to be a tulip. Wildflowers bloom despite the fact that they aren’t sought after or highly valued. Something about their refusal to stop being who they are, their refusal to stop growing even though they aren’t always appreciated makes them even more beautiful. Wildflowers refuse to stop existing regardless of how many times they’re trampled over, mowed over, overlooked, no matter how many times they’re called weeds.

I want to encourage you to keep being you; keep growing; keep existing in truth no matter what, because that is true beauty. When we learn to see our own beauty and stop comparing it others’, we can know true joy as women!