First, this scripture reference, from one of my favorite blogs, Joy's Hope.
I was struggling a lot last night with my Papal's death, and what it really means, along with my testimony of what happens after we leave this life. I realized that while I may not have a particularly strong testimony, what I do have a lot of, is hope. And this scripture really spoke to me last night, and left me with a feeling of peace, and joy. It was just what I needed, and it came out of nowhere. It's one of the things I love about this blog, she just exudes grace, and charm, and faith.
Then, tonight, I was perusing some random blogs. In fact, I can't even remember how I ended up at Four Flights of Fancy, but I came across this guest post, that seemed to speak right to me. It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of living in Utah. In fact, there are days I might declare that I downright hate it, and I'd honestly be embarrassed to admit how many minutes I spend each day planning ways to move out of this place. Much like the author of this blog post, I fancy myself a Southern girl, and picture myself living in a tiny town, a black dot in the middle of nowhere, with lots of property, a wrap-around-porch, and plenty of quiet. I'm often discouraged by the very real blessing of Jon's job, which holds us here, very tightly. But, this blog post reminded me that the trite, old adage, "Bloom where you are planted," springs from more than cliches, but from the reality of His plan for our lives, and our inability to understand it. For me, it reminded me of the wonderful family, and friends we have here, things that I would surely miss if we left. It reminded me of my New Year's Resolution (long forgotten, by now) to be more positive about this place we have been planted, and try to make the best of it, while we are here.
I'm going to just quote the whole post here, because I'm too blog-illiterate to know how to link to it properly, but the original post can be found HERE.
"It's not a mystery to anyone who knows me that I'm not Southern California's biggest fan. I fancy myself a woman that would fit in perfectly in the deep South. Large plantation shutters, slower lifestyle, no Blackberrys, all-day lemonade and long, drawn-out conversations, on my wrap around porch.
That's much more my style.
Last evening we joined friends for dinner and while we were waiting for them to box up our leftover fajitas and for the husbands to pay the bill, a revealing conversation began (isn't that when all great conversations start? Just when you have 3 restless children, needing to go to bed and a waiter waiting for you to leave your table). How it came up, I have no idea, but within 3 minutes, both my friend and I were sharing how we longed to leave Southern California. Not in the "I hate So Cal" kind of way, but more of the "general discontent with the lifestyle" variety.
We played verbal tennis, shooting reasons back and forth about why we would want to leave. There were plenty of reasons shared and enough realistic to solicit a move. We both agreed that moving would be the easiest part.
All through the conversation, the phrase, "Bloom Where You Are Planted" kept creeping through my mind. It was quite annoying, to tell you the truth. Besides being kinda kitschy, it's never something I say or share with others. It's not a cliche statement I email often, so why was it there? The more I thought about it, the more I realized it's purpose. I totally got it-in fact, for the first time last evening, I embraced it.
I have been placed in California. Southern California.
God has selected this to be our home for the time being and while I tend to think I know best, intuitively I know that the Lord doesn't make mistakes.
He has us embedded in this community, on this street and in this house.
He has us mingling with our neighbors, attending our church and spending time with the dear friends we have made here.
We live here for a purpose and this purpose won't and shouldn't be wasted because it's for a divine reason.
Believing that God has a reason for what He does, I can only assume that there is a reason we are here and here is where we will remain until HE gives us a reason to leave. Not until I find one.
Otherwise, imagine all of the wonderful opportunities I would be wasting. Imagine the friendships I would be saying goodbye to and the home we would be driving away from.
Yes, Southern California might not be my very favorite place in the world.
But my LIFE in Southern California is special to me. My friends, family, church, home, community.
They are mine.
And I will Bloom Where I Am Planted.
Enjoying the moments, rather than complaining about the weeds."
