Bloom Where You Are Planted...

"So brothers  in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God." 1 Corinthians 7:24

Several weeks ago, I ventured home from the office and soon into my commute, I was stuck in a traffic jam.  It was one of those afternoons that I needed to pick up my children as soon as absolutely possible and the slow moving traffic began to put me into panic mode.  My hands were sweaty as I gripped the steering wheel and I began to fret with each inch that the traffic crawled. 

All of a sudden I was stopped in the right hand lane and I noticed, growing in the emergency lane was the most beautiful sunflower.  I am married to a landscaper and while I do not know a great deal about planting and growing times, but I do know that it was too early in the year for sunflowers (because mine have not bloomed yet) and I also know that it was pretty odd for them to grow out of a crack in the asphalt on the side of the interstate.  Anyway, it was there and I saw it on that day in early June.

The image of the sunflower has remained with me since that day when I was fretting over something I could not control.  I began to look for the sunflower over the course of the next few days and it remained there for some time.  Each time I felt God whisper to me to bloom where I am planted.

The sunflower on the side of the interstate by no means had the most ideal growing conditions, but yet it continued to thrive. The sunflower grew taller and taller over the course of the next couple of weeks & I can't help but think that others saw her as well.

I feel that God often times places us in difficult places in our lives, where often times it is difficult for us to grow.  On the surface, our ground may not be the perfect soil for us to mature, but inside of us we have everything we need to thrive.  When the situations around us are chaotic like the cars that zoom by on the interstate and we are trying to keep from falling on our faces, we can rely on the strength that Jesus gives us to stand.  When we feel that we're too young / not spiritually mature enough / inadequate for the situation, we have to remember who placed us in this time and know that he will provide our every need, like the sunflower.  When we do, others begin to notice and they long to be around us when their world is insecure.  We can point them to the one who gives us the ultimate peace.