Blossom into a blessing

The picture of the little daisies was taken about a block from my home. They are growing out of a dry crack in the gutter by the curb, surrounded by concrete. Everything around them is brown, dry, and dead because the days have been hot and we have had very little rain over the past few months. Here in Hawaii we usually have plenty of rain and many people do not have sprinkler systems to water their yards, but this year has been different and the grass is brown and dry. It crunches under your feet. My dog doesn’t like to walk in it. Weeds have grown up and now they are drying brown too. But the little daisy plant is blooming in the midst of it all.
 
Sometimes in our lives we may feel like that little daisy, planted in a hard dry place and faced with difficult circumstances. When that happens, we may be tempted to mope around, complain, become angry, or give in to self-pity. But I don’t believe that God calls us to those indulgences. God calls us to be like the daisy plant. We are to bloom where He has planted us. It is God who chooses the circumstances of each of our lives. And it is God who gives us the strength, not only to endure the hard times, but to triumph over them. When we stop rebelling and demanding our comforts and pleasures, when we submit to Him and choose to be content wherever He has placed us, that is when our lives blossom into a blessing. The apostle Paul refers to the troubles of this life as “momentary, light affliction” that is “producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). It is our choice whether we look at our situation from our own selfish point of view or from God’s.
 
Last week I flew to visit my precious mother-in-law who is 97 years old. I have known her since I was fifteen and I have never heard her complain. In fact, I don’t believe I have ever even seen her frown -- not that she has lacked reasons for doing so over the years. Her life has not been easy. She has worked hard and made many sacrifices for her family. Things have not always gone the way she would have liked -- usually because other people just went ahead and did the things they wanted to do without considering how it would affect her. I’m afraid I may have been one of those people a time or two and that pains me deeply. But she has loved me anyway. She has never harbored resentment or held grudges; she just keeps loving all of us. She has always been a godly example and she still is.
 
At 97 her health is declining and she is weak. But her spirits are up and she always has a smile to share with anyone who is around her. Even when we talk on the phone and I can’t see her, I can hear the smile in her voice. Just as she has done for as long as I have known her, she is blooming where God has planted her. Even though she is in a wheelchair and dependent upon an oxygen tube, she shows no sign of wilting. She is a beautiful sweet scented flower where God has planted her. I am humbled by her grace and submissiveness to the Lord and I am encouraged by her testimony that He is always with her and that He upholds her when she feels she might fail.
 
So where has God planted you? Will you determine to submit to His working in your life even when it may seem hard? Will you trust in His Word that proclaims, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans8:28)? Will you humbly yield to his purpose in your life, allowing Him to cause you to bloom where He has planted you? Will you wave the white flag of surrender and let Him use you to be a patch of bright color in a dry, hard spot and a sweet fragrance of Christ in places that desperately need Him?
 
Let us bloom where He has planted us and blossom into a blessing. It will help make the world a better place and perhaps draw others to Christ our Savior.

With love,
Suzie
 

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