Blooming where I'm planted

This is a "Peach Passion Sunflower". It made its' debut where the concrete  & some rocks meet by our front porch. I hadn't even noticed it until it was in full bloom! "Hey, down here. Look at me. I came by special delivery via a transient bird by the Lord's direction to bless you because He loves you & wanted to make you smile." This happy little flower took the above title to it's little flower heart. I have many different kinds of flowers that I have purchased this summer that are beautiful & colorful.

 

(Just to say here that this is a miracle rose. Every year my husband weed-eats this flush to the ground.😬 It always rallies &  gives me at least one sweet little rose. 🌹😊)

(Notice little hedgehog peeking out. 🦔)

&  so many more that have their story to tell.

But the different friends & family who have come over, stopped by to visit or make an impromptu call, have never commented on those flowers or even really noticed them. Except for this one, lone, sweet little flower that pushed it's way out of a crack  that seemed to appear all of a sudden to bring a smile, even joy to the eye of the beholder. Why? I think because it's talking. It's speaking in its' little flower-ese to whoever notices it & listens to the message, even different messages, to the ear of the beholder. Maybe the message of tenacity.

"If I can get through this hard place so can you."

or the message of endurance.

"Don't quit, don't give up you're gonna make it!"

the message of wonder.

"I don't know how I got here either, but it doesn't matter. I still produced a flower!"

the message of hope.

"Can you believe this? Here I am, actually growing & producing life through a crack in concrete!"

So many messages that I'm sure right now you hear one for yourself.

For me, the message is "Bloom where you are planted".

I have to say that I did not choose to be where I am now, not where I live, not the different body & age challenges, not the different relationship challenges, not the loss, not the heartache, not the crushing disappointments, not the frustration of prayers spoken long ago still unanswered, not the 'hope deferred's. But you know what? I can still let my light shine before men that they would see my good works & glorify my Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16) I can still be contented. & "godliness with contentment is great gain." (1 Timothy 6:6)  A little aside here that the Lord recently told me, is that the reason for any discontent in my heart is due to disobedience in my life. He has set boundaries for me to keep me safe & in order to have the provision of abundant life. When I choose to cross those boundaries to indulge in the fruit of the forbidden curiosity plucked from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil, there is much to lose, including the very precious life of contentment.  Obedience is a choice. Staying inside the boundaries the Lord has set for me is a choice. Being contented is a choice. It is actually saying to Him, "Jesus, You choose." & if at this time in my life He chooses for me to be stationary, which means, "not moving, fixed, staying in one place", like in a crack in the ground, I can stretch my root legs, & go down deeper, deeper, to get to the rich Soil & Water to draw my life from & also access the Nutrient to course back up through my root legs & VOILA!

or even better...

never ending blooms to share, to inspire, to encourage. So if I am a seed blowing in the wind of the Holy Spirit to new destinations & horizons, or purposely sown between "a rock & a hard place", then I will bloom where I am planted.   & here, I will produce, thirty, sixty & even a hundred fold. The Master Gardener will see to it. & when you pluck my flowers, the essence will be His essence, because, by His grace, I am blooming where I am planted. & that makes for a heavenly bouquet.

Raintree Perk of the Day:

My Father has a garden

where people often come,

to see the lovely flowers there

I'm happy I am one.

My Father has a garden

each blossom sweet & rare.

He hovers ever gently

Such tender loving care.

My Father has a garden

He plants each special seed.

& I'm so glad He made just one,

the flower that is me.

My Father has a garden

& that is where I'll be,

blooming where I'm planted

for everyone  to see! 🌻