Bloom Where You are Planted – July 23, 2023
Precious Lord,
”Bloom where you are planted” was a favorite saying of my High School French teacher. It means not constantly striving to have a better situation: a better house, a better car, a better spouse. It means being content in your present circumstances. I’m sure it’s a favorite saying of Yours, too. (Although not appearing in these words in Holy Scripture, it is a concept often occurring in Your saints’ writings.)
Where the saying penetrates closest to my heart is in the realm of work – there was a period where I was constantly yearning for a more “meaningful” or “creative or “fulfilling” job.
My job as a legal assistant in a nonprofit law firm required staring at a computer screen all day and manipulating various office machines – neither of which I’m good at or find particularly fulfilling. So at various times I looked for other jobs – ones that would use my training and skills in music and/or theology.
But in reality, my job was perfectly good! I was helping my attorneys to help others, serving (which is what You told us to do and modelled for us), and doing jobs that the attorneys could not spare the time to do themselves. Some of the time, I could “bloom where I was planted.” In my free hours, I wrote songs and wrote drafts of many of the musings in this blog. (As You know, I retired after a respectable 13 years. Thanks to You, I am now teaching piano and finally putting this blog into shape!)
A friend of mine washes dishes for a living. She doesn’t complain, though she is a talented artist and photographer. She works hard and pursues photography and art as avocations.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, another friend waits tables for a living. She hates her job. It does not use her talents in the arts. Sometimes her discontent shows to both colleagues and customers.
How can we get to the place where we can “bloom where we are planted?” for one thing, we can turn to Your examples in scripture.
Here is St. Paul the apostle, writing to the Corinthians about Your Son:
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (Phil 2:5-7)
Here is another excerpt from the same letter, written while Paul was in prison for preaching about Jesus:
Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard [Roman soldiers] and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear….In every way,…Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. (Phil 1:12-18)
Now obviously, Paul’s situation was much worse than those of us who are working in unfulfilling jobs. But he rejoiced in the good his imprisonment was producing. Can we not do the same? I am not saying that we should cling fearfully to a bad situation just to make money. I am of the opinion that You are pleased when we use the gifts You have given us. You do not like to see your beloved in jobs that stifle their creativity. But in the meantime, while we are waiting for Your leading, we would do well to “bloom where we are planted.”
(However, we must also remember to pray. There is nothing wrong with asking You for our heart’s desires. In the words of a song whose title I cannot remember, “You’re a real joy-giver.” You do not always act as quickly as we would like. And sometimes Your will for us is simply different from our requests. Blessed be You.)