I posted these photos on my personal Facebook profile last week with the words, “Even when you’re between a rock and hard place, bloom! You never know when you might brighten someone’s dreary day.”
When I took the photos, I was walking a mile from “home” in a rather heavy rain, and the flowers certainly brightened the trip back to the house. They not only prompted a Facebook post, but I’ve been thinking ever since about the importance of blooming where we’re planted.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is found in Psalm 37:3-9: “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret… it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.”
There is a lot I like about these verses. Right now, I like the idea of inheriting the land and having a place to belong again. Obviously, everyone likes the bit about God giving us the desires of our hearts, but there are a lot of commands surrounding the promises in this passage. Delight yourself, trust in Him, do not fret, rest, wait patiently, do good… However, the ones that are highlighted to me at the moment are “dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness”.
Being faithful to what God has called me to in this period of waiting definitely includes rest and waiting, but I want to bloom here and bring beauty in the midst of this place that has felt a bit rocky over the past three weeks. I want to dwell here and cultivate faithfulness. My calling to bless the Body of Christ isn’t on hold just because I’m in a new place. I need to be faithful with all God has given me, no matter where I happen to be.
I’m grateful God has given me connections here with a couple of churches. I have found friends to spend time with (and hopefully bless with my friendship), and I have found ministry opportunities to engage with.
If I’m completely honest, I’m torn about blooming too much here. I am excited to build relationships, to pour into people, and to engage in opportunities that are opening up to me. But I am also aware that blooming requires roots, and I know this is a temporary planting (at least for the moment). It’s difficult to think of setting down even the smallest of roots knowing I will have to be uprooted again to go “home”(wherever that turns out to be next).
The other verse that has come to mind this weekend is in Jeremiah 29:7: “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
I’ve joked about being in exile in this place, but the truth is, I want to see this town and those living here blessed and prosperous. If I can be a part of that by praying while I’m here (and when I leave) and pouring out whatever I have to give, I want to do that. I want to bloom and bring beauty to this place for as long as I’m planted here, to dwell in this land and cultivate faithfulness in all I do while I call this “home”.
Are you blooming where you’re planted today, or are you too busy wishing you were planted somewhere else? Trust, dwell, and cultivate faithfulness.
