A friend shared a quote with me she received from her friend. It is a popular quote that I had not heard before and it is simply, “Bloom where you are planted.” I find that quote very interesting and instructional on several levels with both physical and spiritual applications. It is not found in scripture, but Paul did write in 1 Corinthians 7:24 “Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you.” He was referring to whether they were single, married, slave or free and not where they were living at the time, but it applies to current circumstances (theirs and ours). Are we to be frozen in time unable to move or change once we are planted? Of course not! When God first called me I was eleven years old. A lot of changes have taken place in the 63 years since then both in me and around me. Like some of you I have been physically transplanted several times but I like to think that I have bloomed wherever God has placed me. From Indiana to Missouri to Okinawa to Crete back to Missouri to Iowa and to Illinois I have done my best to bloom and bear fruit wherever I have been planted and in whatever state of mind and spirit I have found myself.
We are very familiar with the instruction Jesus gives us to provide light in this dark world, but sight may not be the only sense we will impact. When we bloom where we are planted our blossoms will provide a fragrance for those around us. Paul puts it this way, “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15) To those who are seeking God we provide an enticing aroma that draws them closer to Him, while others find it a stench that causes them to move away from us and God. They are lured away from God by the enemy’s deceptive perfume of indulgence and sin. Throughout my life I have enjoyed and been refreshed by the sweet fragrance of those around me who are in full bloom right where they have been planted in my life.
I want to leave you with one very important point. Forgive me for shouting, but it is so important. “YOU ARE NEVER IN THE WRONG PLACE TO SERVE GOD.” He plants us where we are most needed; where we can be a blessing to those around us providing fragrant blossoms, shade for their comfort and fruit to satisfy their spiritual hunger.