Bloom Where You Are Planted

“Bloom where you are planted.” How often do we hear that phrase? It’s on that T-shirt you bought at Target three years ago, that print you want from that artist girl’s Etsy shop, that pin you pinned a few weeks ago on Pinterest … everywhere. Such a well-known and over-used phrase. But are you? Are you blooming where you are right now?

I wish I had a green thumb. My mammaw does, and I think I must have inherited it somehow deep inside (wishful thinking). I’m trying to bring it out. I have quite a growing collection in my apartment/balcony, but I tend to stick to plants that pretty much survive on very little care. You know, the kind that I can’t really mess up. However, I still have managed to kill a few plants that are nearly impossible to kill.

See, my problem is that I am not very patient, I don’t have the best track record for following directions, and I like for things to look a certain way. Like the time I bought these two really cute pots and decided to repot two of my plants in them. I should have looked more into the process beforehand instead of afterward (when they were actually dead). Because it turns out that these plants don’t really need to be repotted all that much. Plus I moved them in a new little cute corner of my home, and they weren’t getting as much light as before. They ended up dying because they weren’t in the right place or the right pots.

It’s so easy to look at life now, and wish and hope to be in the next phase. The season you are in right now may totally stink, and you may have dreams of being somewhere else: In a different job, in a new city, getting married, receiving that promotion or something else. We often are so consumed with dreaming and hoping and praying for that next thing that we miss the opportunities to grow in the now.

We miss seeing what God is doing in the little moments because we aren’t looking for them.

We yearn for the other life and even make plans for it.

We are already uprooting ourselves from where we are in our minds.

We are trying to switch pots before it’s the right time.

And by doing that, we can’t grow … we aren’t getting the nutrients we need; we are stunting our growth.

BLOOM

BLOOM means “A flourishing, healthy condition; the time or period of greatest beauty, artistry, etc.” Blooming is something that requires action on your part. You have to want to grow and try to do so. It may not look pretty on the outside, but God is trying to do some of His most beautiful work inside if you allow Him to do so.

WHERE

The WHERE part is not your choice. You can choose where you live, but this is beyond that. You can’t choose the time period you were born into or what is happening around you. You have to choose to accept where you are so God can get you where He needs you to be.

PLANTED

When I hear the word PLANTED, the verse in Psalms 1 comes to mind, talking about the man who delights in the law of the Lord: “They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” Don’t you want to be so planted, so rooted in Christ that every single season — good or bad — bears fruit?

Impatiently, I moved my plants when they weren’t ready to move. They would have bloomed where they were, but I wanted them to be in the prettier pots and moved them from their direct source of sunlight.

Friend, God has you in this very moment for a specific, heavenly placed reason. Please stop waiting for the next pot or plot. Make the choice to grow right now in the pot you are in. Plant yourself in Christ now. Bloom in Him now. Combat all the thoughts of uprooting that are distracting you from the Word of God. Ask that Jesus remove all of the weeds of doubt and the seeds of negativity that Satan wants to plant. Abide in Christ and seek Him all the more. Pray that the fruit of the Spirit blossoms in your heart and is evident in your life.

Oh, and guess what? Sooner or later, every plant outgrows its pot. When you do, it will be time for Him to move you to the next pot and plot He has for you. So plant yourself firmly in Him right where He has you … and bloom on.