Bloom Where You Are Planted?

1 Corinthians 12:17-18 – If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.

Last Sunday, there were some lovely flowers on the Communion table at our church. Ordinarily that wouldn't be remarkable, because the flowers in churches are usually beautiful. These flowers came from a plant that had been a decoration in the church for most of the past ten years. In all that time, it had never bloomed. Last summer one of our gardeners realized that the church had too little light and too much heat for it to thrive, so he took it home and put it in his garden for the summer. In the fall, he brought it inside and put it in a cool south-facing window for the winter; and voila! beautiful flowers in delicate coral shades appeared in groups at the end of long slender stems. No-one had known what kind of flowers it could produce, given the chance.

God has given each one of us talents and gifts that are suited to certain functions. When we try to fulfill some other function, of our own, or someone else's choosing, usually we will not be able to perform up to our potential. But given the right circumstances, even we may be surprised at the beauty of our contribution to life. There are times when we need to be committed to "stick with it", to "bloom where we're planted". But there are other times when we need to recognize that our expectation of serving God in a particular way is not suited to the abilities which He has given us and which He has arranged exactly as He wants them to be. Maybe it means changing jobs, or moving, or doing something different at our church. What is God calling us to do that we could do better than what we're currently familiar with? What comes naturally to us, which we just didn't think was a proper way to serve God?

Prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.

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