We have all heard the phrase “Bloom where you are planted.” A phrase that contains encouraging words adorning stickers, t-shirts, coffee mugs, decorations, and Facebook news feeds. It may even be someone’s life motto and if you live by that, well good for you!
But let me take this popular expression to the next level: Bloom where you are transplanted.
Hear me out.
I am in the process of a career change. A very bittersweet one to be honest. I have really enjoyed the past 7 years of learning, negotiating, building, and growing. I have made some wonderful friends and have met some amazing, intelligent, persevering individuals in the agriculture industry. However, for the past few months I have felt a stirring, a discomfort, a kind of in-limbo feeling if you will, that this chapter is complete, and it is time to begin penning the new one. And while the new pages will hold fun and exciting adventures that are orchestrated by God, I can’t help but feel a tinge of sadness that this 7-year chapter is ending in one week.
Honestly, in my head I would really like to be one of those people who finds their niche and stays at a job for 40 years and then retires to some condo in Florida with a used boat and a Mai-Tai. But deep down, I know that my niche is people. I love people. I love all of their uniqueness and quirks and personalities….even if they do drive me a little crazy sometimes. And I have to be obedient when God places me where He needs me, whether it be to learn, to teach, or both. I have to be ok with the change, being uprooted and placed in a new pot. I have to bloom where I am transplanted.
Today I was sitting in my office working on some instructions for those who will do my job interim, and one of my office mates walked in. He said, “You must give me something from here, your office, before you leave.” To clarify, it wasn’t in any way demanding, but heartfelt, and I was extremely touched. You see, he and I had a rocky start. There were things we disagreed on, and at times talks between us got tense. We both have type A personalities, so you can imagine how some of those conversations went. But as we worked through those moments, our relationship changed. He became a confidant, a mentor, and a friend. And it was in that moment of asking for a token from my office that I realized why God had placed me there. I needed the people in that office to teach me things, and in turn I needed to do the same. God uses the people around us to help teach us and shape us, and we can choose to be bloom where He places us or we can choose to wither and allow the weeds around us to grow.
I think of Jesus. He travelled. He went where he was called. Capernaum, Samaria, Jerusalem, it didn’t matter. He went. It may have not been glamorous or practical, but when was miraculous ever practical?
I am in no way close to the Son of Man, but I know we are supposed to structure our lives in a way that shows God directs our steps. Sometimes those steps may seem impractical to our finite minds, but practicality often stifles the miraculous. Today when my office mate asked for the gift, that was a miracle in itself. Proof of God’s work in my life.
There I times I worry or question things I have done or choices I have made. Have I made the right decisions? Is this practical? Am I doing what is best? Am I providing for my family? Am I just a job hopper that is never satisfied? Am I being obedient to God? But then I look back over the past decade and a half of my life, and I know that where I was and where I am now are 2 very different places. And I know, that even though I have stumbled along the way, God has directed my steps since I met Him on the kitchen floor in despair on that sunny day. Have I chased selfish ambitions? Absolutely. Have I not listened to what God said because I was too tired? Yep. Yet I have also traded the practical to see the miraculous. Job hopper? Maybe. Career nomad? Likely.
All I really want to do the next right thing.
Bloom where you are transplanted.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
feed yourself, girl 