Bloom Where you ARE planted...

I'm happy to report that my Spider lilies, that I so lovingly transported all the way from Louisiana, have been transplanted into my side flowerbed and are thriving beautifully. For those of you who don't know, I worried about how to bring these beauties with me to Oklahoma, since they bloom in September; about the time I'd to be planting them in my flowerbeds here. They would have to spend all June, July & August in a pot with dirt instead of in the ground preparing to bloom. Here they are blooming in my flowerbed beside the garage:

the side flowerbed along the 3rd garage faces north, so it gets very little sun...a tad of morning and a tad of evening sun. I was able to plant this flowerbed in azaleas and ivy....something I have always wanted to plant together. As you can see, the lilies are very happy. Remember, after the flower comes the greenery, so everywhere you see a flower...after it fades, a bunch of greenery appears and stays all winter. When it begins to warm up, the greenery can't take the heat and it turns yellow. You then cut it off and wait ....until September..when you see this again...

Before I had this flowerbed ready, I had some bulbs planted in a container in the garage. We kept it in the garage in the dark, at the rental house from June to August...I was skeptical that they would bloom or even survive, especially once I discovered that Maddie was going into the garage and using the lily pot as a litter box. Carl found the pot in the garage when we moved to the big house, and he sat it on the back porch...and I waited...one morning I awoke to this:

I later transplanted these beauties, along with the morning glory vine beside it, into the flowerbed.

The last night we were in our house in Louisiana, we were running out of time and I still had spider lilies to dig up. I didn't have a pot...I'd already filled two big ones, but no way was I leaving lilies for some chick who knew nothing about flowers (and later would dig up my whole flowerbed and sow it with grass seed). So, i went to Dollar General and bought a bad of potting soil, dug up the last of my lilies and plunged them into the potting soil, threw them in the moving truck and hoped for the best. Carl found them 3 months later in the garage...

Yep, that's my lilies, dug up at midnight, threw in a bag of potting soil, stowed in the garage for 3 months with no water or sunlight and they still bloom. So you know me, I get insightful every so often and I was thinking...I know right? lol

So what i was contemplating was, how many times do we end up in less than desirable situations because GOD puts us there?-for a purpose. GOD is the gardener who plants us in the garden of life. GOD expects us to flourish and grow wherever we are planted...whether it be in a pretty pot with great soil and unlimited water & sunshine, or like the bulbs above...in a ratty plastic bag with Dollar General Soil...shoved in a garage and forgotten.

Wherever we are today, God placed us there. It may not be a permanent placement for  your life, but it is His present placement of your life. He has made you for that spot in His garden. You are commanded  to flourish in it!

God knows who you are and who I am and  He knows how He has put us together and He knows the variety of personality that we  have and the kind of philosophy of life we have and the kind of relationship we have with Him. He knows all about you and me, and He has decided in advance where it is  that you will grow best and decorate His garden of life best where He has placed you. I think  He places us in situations that will allow us  to be productive and fruitful. His word even says it in

 {John 15:16}

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

God is looking for people who will be willing to allow Him to make an impact through them on their piece of the garden. I don't think God calls everyone to travel to the ends of the earth...I just don't. First, He expects you to flourish right where He has planted you. That's what I think. (for what it's worth!) God plants us carefully and He tends our lives to make sure  that we have what it takes(more for some and less for others)  to flourish where He has planted us.

I did some online research and someone else agrees with me! Imagine that. Here are his pointers for growing in God's garden:

1. Be grounded in the Garden.- It is important for a plant or a tree to have a good root system that runs down deep to hold it and to provide nourishment to it in its growing process. In the same way you, being planted in God’s garden need to be grounded (firmly rooted) in your faith in Him and His plan for your life. Paul said it like this, Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done (Col. 2:7 The Living Bible). Those lilies  I planted are not going to be moved. I didn’t plant them and move them to another place in the yard. I think we are the same way. God plants us in a place where He wants us grow you. "That place is in faith in Christ. In order to flourish in your Christian life you must be well grounded in your faith in Him."
2.  Be grateful for your place in the garden.- When He places us in His chosen place in His garden, we are suppose to  show gratitude for that l placement and not complain about where we have been planted. Okay, I'll be the first to tell you that I wax and wane in this department. :) Everyone probably does. I hang on to my belief that  God loves and rewards a grateful heart. It can always be worse. Really.

Just like this ivy, you might have to climb...

3.Be groomed by the Gardener.(my favorite)-God is the Gardener who tends everyone He plants in His garden. He is not willing to leave us as we are. He loves who we are, and He wants us to grow up and produce fruit for His glory. It made me think of the Bible verse about being cut off...

John 15:2

Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.

  God waters, weeds, prunes, fertilizes, and cares for those He plants in His garden. If I'm  experiencing a little discomfort because my branch has been pruned, I need to  relax, because  it means I am about to bloom and be fruitful for God. (thanks Amy for reminding me of this a lot!)

4. Be giving to the garden. -Some people are takers and others are givers. God wants you to be a giver. The lilies I planted two weeks ago are already beginning to fade. I have enjoyed them so much and I hope people driving by have also. This is how it works with God...so says his word:

Luke 6:38 (the Message Version  says it best!)

 “Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back–given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.

5. 6. Be glowing from the garden.-God’s will and plan include our getting so in touch with Him and letting Him live His life through us so that others see Jesus in our daily lives, the way we talk, act, think, and respond to them. If they ain't seeing Jesus in us...we aren't glowing from the Garden he planted us in.

So as I wrap up my rambling, I encourage you to Bloom where you are planted...