Sunday, August 23, 2015

Bloom Where You're Planted

If you have read my blog long enough, or know me personally, you know that one of my photography loves is capturing flowers.  They amaze me and their details capture my heart.

These flowers pictured below were growing in an area of our barns leftover from the farm.  They were not growing in great soil - in fact, it was where dirt had washed up on old cement near the feeding trough and barns which held the cows after milking.  I noticed them one day recently and it both shocked me and filled me with joy.


To see them blooming in such a "desolate" place was exciting.  To know that they were still growing and blooming even in horrible conditions was an encouragement.


I knew I had to capture them.  I knew I had to photograph the details of beauty even in an area that is less attractive than others I have photographed.


As I began photographing them the Lord began giving me the thoughts I am going to share.  He began to show me as I saw up close what conditions these flowers were in that I can be just like these flowers.

I can bloom where I am planted.

So many times in our lives, and I can look back on MANY occasions in my own life, we want to have the "perfect soil", the "perfect circumstances" and everything to be just as WE want it with cushions, luxury, and beauty.

We want the carefully nurtured soil of life.

We want the gently planted areas with plenty of nutrients and an area that gets the best balance of sun, rain, and rich soil.

We like life to be predictable....OUR version of predictable.

Sometimes, though, God plants us in situations that are ugly.  

They seem infertile.  

They are not attractive.

They get too much sun.

They get too much rain.

They get too much darkness.

They get too much drought.

They can just be downright HARD.... like the hard soil from which these beautiful flowers were springing.



God's grace has placed us right where we need to be in our lives and wants us to BLOOM where we are planted.

Sometimes its that fertile and well-cared for soil.

But most of the time - it's that neglected soil.

The reason He places us there is to GROW us through the adversity.  To realize that what WE see as infertile is exactly the ground where God's grace pours out on us so that we can bloom right where He has us.

The job that you hate and you struggle to complete the work days.

The class in school we hate.

The marriage that is falling apart.

The friendship that is struggling.

The health problem that consumes us.

The hardship of rearing children.

The dysfunction of a family relationship.

....and any other hard, infertile soil of LIFE in which you may find yourself.


We want to fight it.  We want to say "REALLY, God?"  After all I have tried to do for You and You want me HERE!?"

And He answers, "Yes."

Why?

He sees a pride issue in us.

He sees where we have gotten comfortable in our surroundings and we are not looking to HIM for growth, but the ease of our circumstances.

His grace is seeing the bigger picture of our lives.

His grace sees so much more that we could be or do, but because of our complacency we are not really blooming as much as we should in that fertile soil.

So He places us in that barrenness so that we will look to the LIGHT of the World - Jesus, seek the Living Water, and find nutrients that can only come from His Word so that we might grow and BLOOM where we are planted.

I can look back on life and see times He has taken me to the infertile soil and planted me.  It was not fun.  I became angry at the situation in which He placed me and fought Him (or the circumstance that surrounded being there) because I was convinced it was wrong that I was there!!   HOWEVER.... it forced me to see I could not grow on my own - I was dependent on HIM to grow and not because of my "perfect" surroundings.

I grew more in those infertile soil areas and they became a cherished time for me.  I saw blossoms come forth from my Christian Walk that were never there before in the perfect surroundings.

When He brought me out of the infertile soil and I began to be in the "perfect" soil again, I found that I missed the hard ground.  I missed the struggle - because I began to realize that I grew the MOST when I had to depend on HIS Light, HIS Water, His Nutrients - His Word.

I actually MISSED the hard ground.

I realized that because of the Lord planting me where I did not want to be, He actually allowed me to bloom so much more for Him.

SO... the next time you are struggling with a hard situation.

The next time you want to ask God "Why am I planted HERE?"

Just remember these flowers on the hard soil.  They are blooming even in the midst of ugliness and hardness.

They are blooming where they are planted by God.  He makes no mistakes and there is always a purpose in His plantings.

He is the Master Gardener.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

A Chance to Die

I love looking at tombstones.

It may be weird, but I am fascinated by the lives of those written and how long one may have lived.

I feel the excitement of seeing someone who lived to be quite old and I feel the mother's loss of someone who died so young.

When we were at Carolina Beach this summer we went to a local garden which had an old church on the premises.  We were once again drawn to the graveyard next to the church.

I stumbled across this grave and it has spoken to me since.  It was of a set of girls who were young.  Sisters who died close together in dates.  My Mother's Heart was saddened as I thought of the parents and how they felt when they buried their loved ones.

The part that spoke to me the most was what the inscription said underneath the dates of their deaths:


How appropriate, especially in their grief, for the family to state "Truly, in the midst of life we are in death."  

I am sure that many people faced death long ago so much more often than we do in our day.  It was such a part of life from the young to the older.  There were no antibiotics or other medical means in which to save a life as we have today. Even though we still experience death and it is painful, we do not have face it as often as they did.  It truly was such a part of their daily lives.

As I began to muse over that statement, though, it took me to another place.

A spiritual place.

In our life, there must be death of ourselves so that the life of Christ may shine through.  So, truly, in the midst of this life we ARE in death.

The death of ourselves.

I have been reading a lot this summer, as I always desire to do.  In my readings, I am learning more and more about my sin nature and how I must die to it daily.

Unfortunately, that is a daily battle.


What exactly does it mean to be living but be in death at the same time?

Does it mean I am to walk around with a sad look on my face?

Does it mean I am never to have joy or fun times?


No.  


It means just what I wrote above - a daily, continual death of MY thoughts, MY desires, MY wants.

We have this nature inside of us that is determined to get what IT wants and doesn't want to think of what the Lord really wants out of our lives.

The "IT" could be something as simple as a grumble about something not going our way and getting really upset in a situation to demanding what I want and what I need ... or so I think.


How can I be in the midst of life yet die... to myself?


I recently read a short biography of Amy Carmichael, missionary to India in the late 1800's to early 1900's.  It wet my appetite enough that I am searching for a more in-depth biography of her life.  Something in that book made me stop and think about that tombstone above.  You see, Amy Carmichael was born Irish and she had the quick wit and bit of a smart mouth to prove it.  The Lord began to show her that HER ways of handling things were not always the best.

I love this quote the best from the biography I read.  The context was Amy's dealings with a "stuffy old woman" who was sticking her nose in where it did not need to be:

"Amy's Irish temper flared up in a moment.  She wanted to burst out, 'You stuffy old woman! You probably never had a day of fun in your life!  If being a 'true lady' means being like you, I hope I never have to become one!'  But the words never left her mouth.  A voice spoke to her heart, so clearly that it was as if someone were standing by her side, but she knew that the voice came from inside her heart.  'See in this a chance to die,' it said."

"See in this a chance to die."

Those words have stuck with me and the Lord has already brought them to my mind many times.

Die to self.

Die to your own desires.

Die while you are still living so that you will have greater life.



When you want to make that smart remark, see in this a chance to die.

When you want to get even, see in this a chance to die.

When you want to get angry and hold a grudge, see in this a chance to die.

When you want to have your own way, see in this a chance to die.

When your pride wants control, see in this a chance to die.


I love how The Message translates II Corinthians 4:7-12.  We are in our human form - "jars of clay", but when we realize it is Christ Who lives in us and gives us what we need to die to self daily, we benefit all the more:

 7-12 If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!



As the song "Touch the Sky" from Hillsong United states ~ "I found my life when I lay it down." 

See every moment in the midst of life as a chance to die to yourself.

See it as a way for these attributes of God to shine through you as you show Christ through your life:

Selfless
Truthful
Faithful
Mercy
Grace


Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.