Reading: Philippians 1:3–14
Picture this: It’s midnight. In the darkness of their cell, Paul and
Silas—after surviving the severe beating—aren’t moaning and
groaning; they’re praying and singing hymns to God. The prisoners
in adjoining cells are wide awake, listening to them pray and sing.
(Acts 16:25, VOICE)
I watched as the guest florist at our women’s retreat showed us how to separate plants and repot them. As her hands pulled the roots of the beautiful plant apart, I shivered. It took me back to when my husband and I were torn apart. I was reminded of how much it hurt to no longer be one but to be split in two, him going one way and me another.
As the florist put the plants into new pots, I saw myself being taken out of my familiar surroundings and put into a different environment where I was expected to grow and blossom.
This uprooting and replanting reminded me of our time in Halifax. A tree had been cut down in our backyard. It was too costly to remove the stump, so we built a rock garden around it.
One flower, in particular, grew, and grew, and grew! We had obviously chosen a type of plant that you wouldn’t typically see in a rock garden. Being somewhat embarrassed, I hoped our neighbours wouldn’t notice. I thought that flower would only last a short while, but it bloomed, and bloomed, and bloomed!
During those months the flower bloomed, I was recuperating from major surgery. I don’t know how many times I looked out my kitchen window and saw that beautiful flower as it swayed in the wind, got drenched by rain, and glistened in the sun. I vowed to always bloom where I was planted.
After painful separation and being planted in a brand-new environment, God helped me to spread my roots deep and blossom, hopefully bringing as much blessing to others as that flower in my rock garden brought to me.
Have you been taken out of your comfort zone and transplanted somewhere you don’t think is right for you? Like that flower and the Apostle Paul, you can grow deep roots, and God can use you right where you are.
Father, help me to see that what has happened to me can advance the Gospel. Help me to bloom where I’m planted. Amen.