Spring, not autumn, is the season for fresh flowers, and we love gathering crocus, lily of the valley, and jonquils into our homes. Fall, on the other hand, is about readying our gardens for winter. Though colored leaves can be striking, fresh flowers are hard to come by…
…unless you live in my neighborhood.
As Jack and I strolled around the block last week, we found a spring-like surprise: brand new blossoms in dramatic purple, pushing up from a tangle of ivy roots and stems. Looking more like Easter than Columbus Day, they made me stop to oooh and ahhh, and I’ve been thinking about them ever since.
All of us have heard the expression, “Bloom where you’re planted,” which is exactly what these flowers are doing. Though that quote isn’t from Scripture, its principle is. No matter what snarling circumstances surround us, God wants each of us to accept our lot in life, or, put more eloquently, to embrace his will.
What if he decides that an extreme hardship is what we need to turn our attention to him? Wouldn’t that “misfortune,” then, be in our best interest? That kind of logic makes us squirm. “It’s not fair!” we say.
All of us want to live on Easy Street. Something deep inside says we deserve that. So why doesn’t God make it happen? If he can do anything, then why doesn’t he choose to make us happy?
- Because each difficulty coaxes us closer to him.
- Because we can demonstrate his sustenance through troubles.
- Because by cheerfully enduring, we can bank rewards for later.
- Because flexing our perseverance-muscles makes us stronger for next time.
- Because living above circumstances is the high-road way to live.
- Because God has told us, “In this, you can please me.”
In other words, the Lord assigns certain hardships to each of us and is keenly interested in how we’ll handle them. When we bloom in the middle of those messes, whether it’s poverty, terminal illness, financial stress, or something else, the beauty and perfume of the resulting flowers can impact many, much like the purple “Resurrection Lily” (or “Surprise Lily”) impacted me. When we’re joyful through suffering, it surprises people.
But there’s a catch. We can’t do it on our own. Cheerfully accepting a “fate” that seems unfair makes our mental scales-of-justice tip. More natural is to run from it, fight it, or try to escape it altogether. From where God sits, however, those reactions go down as losses.
So, to encourage us to bloom against all odds exactly where he plants us, the Lord has told us that one day every believer will indeed have an address on Easy Street. And I’ll bet the blossoms in those yards are going to be out of this world.
“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you.” (Romans 12:2)
Just what I needed to read, this morning.
I love the simple illustrations of life, which bring profound results.
Thank you for this beautiful illustration of how God works adversity in our lives and how we can glorify Him through it. I have learned, and still am, that it is important to be in His Word and be aware of His handiwork in all of life, but especially when things go awry, so that we don’t lose our footing or our focus. In May 2011, my world came crashing down and I now am living a life that is very different from the one I had known for thirty years. Nothing is familiar, nothing is the same anymore. So, what is God showing me? I will admit that I am not always sure. What is God’s will for my life now? Still waiting on Him to reveal that to me. Do I want to run from my circumstances? Yes, at times I do, but then I stop myself from going down that path because I know He has a plan, a purpose for my life. He could not possibly have brought me through all of the last sixteen months of pain, sadness, loss, and destruction for nothing. So, with the hope He gives and faith that He will deliver me through all the changes, I am trying to “bloom against all odds” exactly where He plants me.
Hi Margaret,
What a great name for these flowers- Resurrection and Surprise Lily- I don’t know if those plants bloom at other times, perhaps in the spring, followed by a season of heat and dryness. Other plants thrive in such summer conditions. Your mentor aunt once wrote that “the Lord sandwiches blessings and joys between times of changing us, which get us ready to live with him for eternity. He wants every individual to become like him and is helping us with that.” And she also wrote “God is especially watchful over old people and children, while he is teaching and growing the in-betweens.” How cool to see that even in nature, that perhaps the in-betweens of this particular plant show no apparent activity or fruit. And when I think of old and young, it is not always about chronology, but in the ever deepening cycles of being seasoned in our beings. Just when you think you have something figured out, the Lord sends you to a sort of death, when there is no fruit on the vine, and then brings a surprising resurrection. Teach me Thy ways, Oh Lord. Thank You for the lessons of nature.
Love,
Terry
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the little surprises God gives us – like the flowers – I call them his ‘shoulder squeezes to say “I love YOU”‘, kinda things.
In response to the above comment from ‘Linda’….empathizing with you in spirit……sometimes even tho we would like to ‘run away’ from the circumstance – knowing we have to stand and face it square-on, it is good, when opportunity presents ,to step away for a couple days, week, whatever…..to get refreshed and get a different perspective. Knowing that God is present wherever we are, and in ALL THINGS, is the ‘rope of hope’ that hang onto….that cannot be broken..when you KNOW Him. May he infold you in His arms and hold you close through your difficult times.
Good blog, Margaret.