Grow where you are planted

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”  Jeremiah 17:7-8

A few weeks ago I decided to go for a bike ride on a Saturday afternoon. I rode through the neighborhoods and eventually made my way to the lake close to my home. It had been a long time since I had ridden a bike but it gave me time to be alone and think. As I rode past the lake I noticed a small stump sticking up from the water about ten feet from the shore. As I looked closer I saw one, very small, yellow flower growing on the stump. There was no dirt on the stump to provide nourishment and there were no other flowers growing alongside the yellow one. I stopped and looked at the flower for a few minutes and took a picture. When the single flower on the stump caught my attention, I immediately thought to myself, “Grow where you are planted”.

I have thought about that little flower several times since that day. It was standing on the stump, in the middle of the water, alone. It did not have any protection from the winds that blow across the lake or the sun that could dry it’s shallow roots. It was totally alone but growing exactly where it had been planted. The flower probably never planned to be planted on a stump in the middle of a lake and it probably does not understand why it is there. After all, what purpose could one little flower, in the middle of a lake, serve?

I prayed today and asked God to help me to grow exactly where He has planted me and to trust His reasons for placing me there. I prayed for the wisdom and energy to grow here and now, and not wait until I think the place is right, free from the blowing wind and sun. I have not been to the lake since the day I saw the flower and do not know if it is still there. Maybe it’s reason for growing there was for me to see it and to be reminded to grow where I am planted.

Chad