Check your Soil

The phrase "bloom where you are planted" is encouragement to many who find themselves in curious or unexpected environments. But, what if life giving light is not present? What if your soil has become dry and cracked and no longer provides nutrients to your roots or your soul, or the floods have come and you wither in submersion to the point of rot, or you keep getting mowed down where you are?

There certainly will be times when the shadow of the needs of another do not allow for the entry of light necessary to bloom. That's when the Confidence of an Inward Bloom of the Spirit will sustain and in its own perfect way give glory to God, the Provider of all gifts and life. Be careful, once those life conditions that require remaining in the holy shadows for others are accomplished, to check the status of your soil.

In my carefully planted herb garden, my treasured lavender was dried to the roots beyond recognition from the searing sun and lack of rain after I was away for a week without remembering to ask someone to send a little water its way.

Turnips planted by the creek bed supplied tasty greens well into December. Then came the day that I reached for a bag of greens in the grocery store as I wondered to myself what happened to the greens by the creek side that are no longer? The flooded creek bottom … too much moisture. The greens were gone.

A lovely shamrock plant sat happily by a bright window, rooted in the perfect pot that was carefully watered to allow it to thrive. Its tender shoots grew tall and then cascaded slightly, holding tiny white blooms … until, enters the cat, who chewed ferociously on the tender shoots until a few days later the plant was mowed flat to the dirt. All the pretty shamrocks and blooms lay limp around the base of the pot. Rescued, the shamrock pot was moved to another spot, inaccessible to the cat. The plant recovered, grew its shamrocks again, and bloomed.

Yes, indeed, bloom where you are planted as you can, do what is important for you to do for others, but move your plot of soil if necessary when the time comes for you to bloom in the new way God is leading you.