Gospel Topic Tuesday: Bloom Where You Are Planted

I love to journal! I'm not always good at it but I honestly have between 8-10 journals currently in use. I have my regular journal, my church journal, my personal progress journal, my ideas journal, my crafting journal and the list goes on. Now you might be thinking I am going to blog about journaling and the importance thereof but you would be wrong. In one of my journals I have written down ideas of things I want to take pictures of and pair up with a phrase or quote that are meaningful to me. One in particular that I can't take a picture of now is a tree growing in the back of an old truck in the middle of a field. It was gorgeous to watch it bloom last year and I kept meaning to stop and take a picture but I never made time. I bet you are thinking I am going to blog about making time for things now huh. Still wrong. I want to talk about blooming where you are planted!

I wish I could paint this picture for you. Think of an old rusty dump type truck out in the middle of field. It's next to one other semi truck and nothing else. In the back of the rusty truck is a tree growing with the puff balls of white blossoms. It's a beauty in the middle of junk and garbage. How did it get there? Why is it doing so good? Why would something even think to grow there? You can think of logical reasons but the phrase that comes to mind is "Bloom where you are planted!"

How many of us are put in difficult surroundings? A place we don't care to be at this point in our life perhaps? How many of us say things about how I will do it someday when everything aligns that I desire? "I will be happy when I have my dream house. I would be more willing to serve if it was on my time table. I will decorate and keep my home clean when I own it. I will make more time for spiritual things down the road. I'll work on my food storage when I have more money and time." And the list goes on. It's in our human nature to never be satisfied. To always be searching for something more and putting things off until tomorrow. but that is not what we should do. We should be anxiously engaged in a good cause. We should be trying to better ourselves and prepare ourselves for the future.

What happens if we just sit idly by and let time go? We miss out on opportunities to have experiences to learn and grow from. The point of our life here on earth is to have this mortal experience and to learn. How boring life would be if we just always sat waiting for something more?! When I first moved into our current house I could not wait to decorate it and make it our own. I was going to use paint and get things put up that I couldn't quite do in apartments (I didn't want to pay for the paint on a 6 month lease). Jared and I worked hard together in our living room and added splashes of color and did our best to tie a theme together. The living room is currently my favorite room in the house. I know I won't live in this house forever but I want to make it beautiful and inviting now. I did the best I could when living in apartments as well. I didn't just sit there waiting for the day I would own a house.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said the following "I share these very personal experiences with you, hoping to impress upon you that wherever you live, whatever circumstances you live in, whatever your background or challenges might be, the gospel light has the power and purpose to bring blessings into your life and into the lives of those placed in your path. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to bring blessings to our Heavenly Father’s children. You are planted in your country, your community, your family to facilitate these blessings. I urge you to bloom where you are planted!" “Bright as the Sun,” New Era, Jun 2006

As you can tell he strongly encourages us to bloom where we are planted. Maybe we know we are only going to live somewhere for 6 months to a year. We shouldn't just let time pass us by. We need to grab at the opportunities in front of us to serve, make friendships, develop talents, bless the lives of those around us and more. I remember when we lived in our last apartment that I went in with the mind frame that I didn't need to make friends. I was only going to live there for 6 months. I didn't want a calling because what was the point. It was kind of lonely. I know I missed out on lots of opportunities. Luckily some women in the ward knew better and helped me to realize the importance of blooming where I was planted. I shared my musical talents and made a friend over crafting. We need to always bloom where we are planted.

There's another article I found that talks about military families and how they get uprooted so often and how it's hard to want to bloom where you are planted. It's important for us to give service and be willing to reach out. While we are blooming and serving we might be blessing someone else who is new to the area want to even try to bloom again. Some people need a lot of nurturing and TLC and I know that if we do that we will be blessed in our own lives.

The Lord has much in store for us and will bless our lives as we do what is right and seek out good things. There are several scriptures that talk about how we need to not procrastinate our day of repentance. We need to ensure that we are doing what's right and seeking further light and knowledge. I know that as we bloom where we are planted we will find fulfillment, peace, friendship, talents will be multiplied and lives will be blessed.