Bloom Where You Are Planted

Have you ever took the time to think about where you live? Why you live there? What your purpose is there? Why you live in the house you do? Why you have the friends you do? Why you work at the job you do? Why you attend the church you do? Why you have the family you have?

Have you ever thought about the fact that God has a purpose for YOU in this generation?

About 10 years ago, I used to think that I was born in the wrong era. There was something intriguing to me about the 1940s and 1950s. I kept thinking, oh, I would’ve LOVED life back then! But I quickly realized that even though I though I would’ve loved life then, the grass still had to be mowed, as the saying goes. Jobs still had to happen. The struggles of life weren’t necessarily any less back then. So how do we bloom where we are planted? How do we love life in the moment that God has given us?

You see, that’s just it. It is a moment. In the grand scheme of time, our time here on this earth is but a moment. So how are we to spend that time and bloom where we are planted?

Be Yourself.

I feel like the whole idea of “being yourself” is becoming rather cliché. But in reality, it is very Biblical. God has created each and every one of us in his image, knitting us together perfectly [Genesis 1 & Psalm 139]. Yet what do we entrap ourselves in? The idea that we want to be someone else. That we need to look like someone else. Do what someone else does. Have what that person has. Here’s the deal, folks. When we try and measure up to others and constantly compare ourselves to those around us, it actually ends up separating us from them. It creates this disconnect because we can’t see that person for who they are and can’t see ourselves for who we are. When we can accept ourselves for who we are, for who God created us to be, we can live confidently in who we are and bloom where we are planted.

Who Do You Represent?

When someone talks about someone else, you have these preconceived ideas about this person. Whether true or not, we have this idea of who this person is. Why is that? Well, maybe we’ve seen a picture of them and it has caused our minds to think a certain way about that person, right or wrong, true or false. So let me ask you this. When someone says your name in conversation, what ideas might come to their mind? Not that we should care about what others think, so I want to be careful with that, but the question we need to ask ourselves is, “Who do I represent?”

Acts 4:13b says in reference to Peter and John, “And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” People who were around Peter and John, knew they had been with Jesus. They represented Jesus well. They reflected his image to the point that they carried around characteristics known to be of Jesus to the point that people RECOGNIZED THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS. Now no human is a perfect reflection of the Savior because it’s not possible to do so. But when people interact with you, can they tell you were with Jesus? Can they tell you value your faith? Can they see the importance that Jesus holds in your life and the truths of the Bible? Part of blooming where we are planted, is realizing who we are in Christ and WHO we are serving. Like the saying goes, it’s not who you are, but WHOSE you are.

You have a purpose

Not only do we need to be who God created us to be and live our lives as a reflection of who he is, but we also need to realize we have a special and specific purpose here on this earth, in this moment in time. Have you ever experienced God-cidences? Those times in life when things happen and the only thing you can say is, “Only God?” I sure have! There have been a few times when medical diagnoses weren’t pretty and were far from what we were praying for. But God stepped in, not by coincidence, but through a God-cidence. He has me here for a reason, and every day that I have breath, he has a purpose for me. To bloom where I am planted.

What is your purpose? Don’t complicate it. God has made very clear that his purpose for each of us is to serve him and give him glory. How we do that, well, he will direct our steps, but even the mundane and the uncertainties, we can still serve him and give him glory!

Are you blooming where you are planted? Are you embracing the moment and the place God has you in right now? Be yourself. Know who you represent with your life. And recognize that God has a purpose in the right here, right now.