Talk about blooming where you are planted! Last month I wrote about our marigolds and how they have been striving to stay alive and reproduce seeds as long as possible. Recently we discovered a small marigold, less than 3 inches tall, growing in the crack at the bottom of our stairs. It is obvious us ever time we go in and out of the house, although it is too small for anyone else to notice. If I would have tried to grow a plant there it never would have succeeded but somehow God put a seed there and it has taken root and grown.
It seems to be saying that no matter where you are planted you can grow. Circumstances are never to difficult bloom! That little flower now only grows there, in December, but it is blooming as well. And not just one bloom but 2! We can find ourselves in some very tough conditions, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bloom there. In fact, because of the extreme obstacles my marigold faces, its blooms are all the more meaningful.
It also seems to say that no matter how small you are, how seemingly insignificant, you can still bloom and God will use you to encourage others. No matter where you are, someone will see you and be encouraged. That marigold certainly invigorates us as we see it.
So no matter how small and unimportant you think you are, and no matter how difficult the circumstances are in which you find yourself, remember to grow where you are planted. Someone will see you blooming and be encouraged.
Jeremiah 29:1-7 These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. …4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Are you blooming where you are planted, or are you allowing what you are facing to take your joy and peace? No matter what you think, someone will notice and be encouraged by you.
INDIA UPDATE: It will be just Nancy and myself on this trip. That will mean extra work for each of us. Pray we’d have the energy, focus and strength to do a job that honors God each moment of each day. Pray we would bloom wherever God plants us as we travel through India.
PRAY FOR the Christians in India, that each would bloom where they are planted, no matter how insignificant they may seem or how difficult their circumstances are.
Pray for the pastors and wives, as well as other church leaders, who will be attending our conferences. Pray nothing would hinder them from coming or from receiving all God has for them. Pray they would be open, attentive and take what God teaches them and apply it to their lives and ministries.
Jerry Schmoyer
Christian Training Organization
india.christiantrainingonline.org/