Bloom Where You Are Planted

 I've seen this quote on more than one occasion. I've seen it on book titles, motivational posters and  Pinterest boards. I have found it encouraging and makes me think of course, about personal growth. 

When I first began working retail a bazillions years ago, one of my first promotions ( if you could call it that) was to the floral department. Some of my responsibilities were to go store to store once a week and clean up the plant and flower section. I would remove any yellow or dead leaves, dust off the dull Potho and Ivy plants, making them more presentable. And of course, water the potted plants and flowers. Often, I would see these little green plants struggling to survive in the tiny plastic containers they were in. Week after week, I'd water them but for some reason they had not been picked up by a customer. I  was always surprised to see one that was thriving to still be on the shelf. Sometimes I would watch them eventually, week after week; wither away. All because it suffocated in the tiny container it was in. When the only thing it needed was a  bigger container in order for the roots to spread out to thrive and grow.

In order for flowers or plants to produce fruit they need proper soil and water. If a plant is suffocating in a small container , the soil- which holds in the water- is pushed out. Then the  plant  can't take in the necessary water for growth and reproduction. But if given the proper soil and water source it will thrive and even bloom to a flower and then fruit.

In Northern California, we lived on a corner lot years ago and Jim liked to decorate the street sign that was on our property. At Christmas we would wrap it with red ribbon and during the fall he would bring home some seemingly dead corn stalks. He tied them to the wooden street sign that was in a small flower bed on the corner. The following Spring we noticed a green corn stalk looking plant coming up out of the flower bed under the street sign. We were pretty excited, little did we know that the corn stalk we used for decoration the previous fall had dropped some seed and was now reproducing in our yard.  It truly was blooming where it had been planted. 

As I was watching one of my favorite TV shows last week, I noticed a decorated book shelf in the background with a sign that simply said " Bloom". Which of course made me think of this quote I have heard before and I added... "Where you are planted."

We don't always have a choice of where we are planted, sometimes we get uprooted and transplanted into an uncomfortable or unfamiliar container. And not just in the physical sense but in our circumstances as well. Something changes that rocks our world and It feels strange, even hurts, all the other plants look different, our roots try to figure out where to spread and look for a water source to tap into. 

One thing I have discovered is, the unfamiliar, uncomfortable and seemingly total different places or circumstances that we never would have chosen, can promote great growth. I don't know about you but I always want to keep growing. I want to bloom where God plants me. 

I can look back on my life and see all the people and circumstances that  God used to plant seeds in my heart. Other times He used people to give me that drink of water I needed, He cultivated the soil in my heart and prepared it for greater growth. For that reason, I don't want to sit on a shelf and I don't merely want to bloom. I want to be like that corn husk planting seeds along the way and I want to water those that need watering so that others can bloom where they are planted as well. Because God wants to use me to do just that! Just like He did with Paul who said " I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6 NIV)

It's not up to me to bloom or produce fruit, God will do that in me but I do have a choice. Will I sit on the shelf in the comfort of my familiar container or will I let God rock my world and spread my roots to the unfamiliar, uncomfortable and different places to promote greater growth in me to produce fruit for Him? 

Today, I'm choosing the unfamiliar, uncomfortable and different. I'm going to need some water! 

-Pressing On