Bloom Where You Are Planted

A strange thing happened while we were out of town for a few days.  An Iris bloomed in our yard.  Now you might not think that’s strange but if you knew where it’s blooming - the circumstances around this single flower that stands tall in a place that’s not tended or given any care – you might find it strange, too.  A couple of years ago we had a big Spruce tree removed from our front yard.  My hubby needs to take the stump out of the ground and level the mound that was under the big tree.  For some reason – perhaps from previous owners in years past when the big tree was small – there were yellow Iris that bloomed under the tree each year.  When the tree was removed we thought all the tubers had been dug up.  Imagine our surprise when we returned home to find that a single stalk had ‘shot’ up from a few green leaves below.  There she stands – all alone – in the middle of a messy, bleak, untended area of our front yard.  She stands straight and tall and beautiful! 

  

When I saw her there I realized I didn’t even notice the dirt and stump and old twigs all around her. All I saw was her beauty!

 

I learned a lesson as I stood in my front yard and looked at that beautiful flower.  She just stood there, radiating beauty.  She didn’t beg or plead or stomp her foot or scream at me.  She didn't demand to be moved to a better place.  She just stood tall – and beautiful. As if she couldn’t see the condition of her surroundings.   No matter where I am ‘planted’ I can bring beauty in the middle of chaos!  Where there is ruin I can stand tall and make a difference.  I can bloom where I’m planted.  It may not be the place I would choose – it may not be the way it was when I was planted there but I am right where God planted me.  He may transplant me someday – move me to another place.  Or, He may have a reason to leave me right where I am for a long time.  No matter where I am I know He wants me to stand tall and show the beauty He has created in me.  So I breathed a prayer:

‘Lord, help me be content to stand in the place You choose for me.  Let me bring Your beauty to everything around me.  Help me be content to stay where I am as long as this is where You want me to be.  And if someday You should choose another place for me, I’ll know it is the perfect place –  because it will be the place You choose for me.’ 

 

(P.S. - We have plans to move this beauty when the time is right.  She will be moved to a place where she will be tended and cared for.  The stump will be removed, the ground leveled, lawn reseeded in that spot and a small flower bed will be left near the fence.  She may grace that flower bed.  Perhaps with other flowers that will share her beauty.)