Wherever life had planted you, choose to bloom
"You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you (I have planted you), that you might go and bear fruit -"
- John 15:16 (AMP)
I noticed a large patch of bright red tulips growing in between my garage and my fence. It formed a beautiful bouquet of at least a dozen vibrant flowers.
Funny thing was I didn't remember ever seeing tulips bloom there before. I wondered who planted them.
For days I couldn't get the brilliant red flowers off my mind. I considered having them transplanted to a more viewable spot. But I was still curious about who planted them where they were in the first place.
Unable to solve this mystery myself, one night I asked Jeff, "Do you know anything about those tulips blooming next to our garage?"
He reminded me that a few years prior, he dug up some weeds that were growing next to the house. He said he threw them in a large dirt pile next to the garage and covered them with rocks. Then he doused them with old paint thinner - he thought it was just a pile of weeds he was killing off. The only thing he could figure was the previous owners of our house must have planted some tulip bulbs in the soil he dug up and buried.
Listening to his explanation I thought how hardy those flowers were to push their way through thick and thin to bloom under the conditions in which they were planted.
Life, oftentimes, plants us in unique circumstances. We can find ourselves in a situation we're dissatisfied with or experience a loss or disability.
God has allowed us to be planted in difficult places and uses them to bring us closer to him so he can strengthen and teach us things we may have never learned about our character or how we can still thrive in difficulties if we do things his way.
Sometimes, God wants us to make a difference where we're planted. We can look at many historical figures and see how God used them through their difficulties to change the world.
Wherever life has planted us we can pray and ask for wisdom and insight to use the situation for our good and the good of others.
Like hardy tulips, we can push through hardships and bloom where we're planted!
• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at Annetteebudzban@aol.com.