Bloom Where You Are Planted

A couple of years ago, we were in North Texas for a job.  Ted worked in Borger and we stayed in an RV park 10 miles away at Fritch.   The trailer was parked on rocks - no trees, no Wi-Fi, no view - it was just plain ugly.  But that adventure is one of our fondest memories, because of the great friends we made while we were there.  One day  I was out walking and stopped to visit with a lady sitting on her RV steps.  She and her hubby were also away from home and working a job nearby.  I'll never forget her answer to my "how are you" - "I hate this God-forsaken place.  There's no place to shop except for a dinky little Walmart and it's 10 miles away."  I didn't tell her that our last job was in a place 100 miles from a Walmart, and 30 miles from a grocery store, laundry mat, and gas station.

It reminds me of Jeremiah 29:3-7.  In the margin of my Bible I have written beside that passage:  Bloom Where You are Planted.

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.   Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
(Jeremiah 29:4-7)

These people had been carried away from their homes against their will, lost everything they owned, and were forced into slavery.  God told them to  bloom where they were planted.

In my life I have been all kinds of places that weren't fun, comfortable, or where I thought I wanted to be -  sometimes I chose to bloom and sometimes I didn't.  Now that I'm learning a few lessons about the places I pass through, I hope I bloom more than complain.  It's not always an easy place to be, but blooming makes it easier.

When I hear comments like:  I hate this place,or  I wish I knew what's next, or I'm tired of feeling this way, I would like to just put my hands on their shoulders, look them square in the eye and quote that scripture to them...wouldn't that help a lot!!!  I pray they learn to be bloomers.

Most of our RV neighbors are here working like we are.  I have only had one brief conversation with the wife of a welder here, but love the attitude displayed on her pick-up window. 

What a great additude. 

This gal is blooming where she's planted!