Pastoral Ponderings- Bloom where you’re Planted
I was visiting with one of our church’s angels at the rehab center, where, among other things, she said that between hospital and rehab stays, she’s not been home since the day after Christmas. If anybody could complain, it might be her, and while she did say she’s eager to get home, she didn’t dwell on that eagerness to leave. What came up in our conversation much more were the people taking care of her that she’s been able to share God’s blessings with, either from her bed, her wheelchair, or sometimes even while on foot carefully walking around the facility to build up her strength again.
SHE is the one trying to get back in good enough shape to go home, yet she is also the one sharing God’s blessing with those around her! What a gal! Would that we could all have that kind of spirit! As that well-known passage in Ecclesiastes reminds us, there’s a time for everything under the sun, but neither does that text say nor imply that there’s NOT a time to be a blessing for others! More like regardless of whatever time you’re going through, it’s always a time to be a blessing. Even in the hospital or in rehab.
So what about the rest of us who are NOT down and out these days—how is it that we would rather play the “poor little ol’ me” game, despite our countless blessings, than use the time God has given us, wherever we find ourselves, to bless others? Think about it—who was the last person that you found a way to bless today—or was it last week, last month, or further back? If that little angel can do it day after day from a hospital bed or rehab center, why can’t we, as we interact with others every day?
Our little angel is a great demonstration of the old cliché to “bloom where you’re planted” in a spiritual way, and a great reminder that we can all find ways to bless others wherever we find ourselves. Perhaps it’s like the God Sightings we talk about at church—it’s not like there’s a shortage of ways God is working in and through our lives every day, it’s more a problem of noticing. LOOK FOR how God is working every day around you, and it’s then easier to notice as well, ways small and large, for how we can be God’s hands, feet, smiling lips and loving heart for those around us—not JUST on special occasions, but every day.
Keep being a blessing—wherever you’re planted! Pastor Jim