Bloom Where You are Planted

This morning when I was leaving the living room I happened to glance over at my Christmas Cactus that sits near our picture window. The blooms have started to pop open and many more promise to grace our home with their beauty in the coming weeks. I always enjoy their delicate appearance and look forward to seeing them return each year around this time.

This plant was a gift to me from my mom. Actually, she gave it to me in hopes that maybe I could get it to bloom because in the years that she was the owner of it - it never bloomed. She had been given this plant by a dear friend of hers many years ago and for whatever reason it just was not happy at my mom's house.

So I carefully loaded it into my truck and brought it home. I remember it being in a really nasty old pot and so I gingerly lifted the root ball out of the pot and put it into a nice new home and added some fresh soil. I place it in a spot where I knew the light would be just right and carefully watered it. One year went by and no blooms. I was disappointed but not surprised. That summer I took the cactus outside and let it live all summer out on our carport. It seemed to enjoy the warmth of the summer sun and I was concerned about how it would do when it was time to bring it back in.

I decided I would try a new location in our living room. The window in the living room faces east so the plant gets a nice warm touch of the sun each day. And apparently it likes it! For the past two years now we have been blessed with its beauty. Now all I do is water it and rotate it and treat it with tender care. My hope is that I will have this plant to enjoy for many years to come.

This all led me to think about how I have been somewhat like this plant. I have lived many places over the years. Some places I have bloomed and some places I have just sat dormant not blooming at all. There were places where I soaked in the healing rays of the sun and drank the cool waters without much tangible sign of development and change. But, now it seems that God has me in a place where the soil is rich, the light is right and the moisture permeates deep into my soul. I am praying that now I too will bloom where I have been planted. No longer seeking to be moved somewhere else but content to allow the Master Gardener to prune and to feed and to tend to my growth. I will put my roots down deep into His love and pray that I will bloom with the love of the Savior that all who know me will see Him through me.