I feel sure the purpose of today's message in church wasn't where I am going with this, but I think it is perfect for my family and me right now. I'm sorry that I didn't listen much after this phrase was said, but I immediately began to think, to wonder, and to be thankful.
The sermon was an account of when Jesus was hungry and saw a fig tree with beautiful leaves... but no figs. When He reached the tree, he said, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. (Mark 11:14). The fig tree wasn't ready when Jesus was ready to eat.... it would never produce fruit again.
And then the words were spoken... Bloom where you are planted... and I began to think....
I looked at my life and thought about the garden that I am planted in and what fruit I will produce. My first garden involves being a part of the educational society. There are so many weeds in this garden... deadly weeds that steal my desire and love for teaching and allow me to become overwhelmed with paperwork, following state mandated rules that make no sense, and learning about forty-two acronyms for things that have to be done immediately.... RTI, SLO, TKES, LKES, DOK, etc, and etc, and etc.... Now... I could focus on all these weeds and let them overtake me and my precious blooms, or I can cut those weeds back and focus on the sun, the rain, and dirt that I am planted in with my roots. Those weeds aren't going to go away... there will surely be more to replace those weeds that do get cut away, and I feel sure that for many more years to come weeds will prosper throughout education. My blooms are the children... what is right for them... what weeds do I cut and throw away... what leaves need to be pruned... the leaves may be green... but they aren't bearing fruit. Focus... it's all about focus... I want to produce good fruit... I do hope that I am a bloom... and not a weed in this garden of education.
Another garden that I am a part of is the little small town I grew up in... I'm here on a daily basis... interacting with all kinds of people. I try to go to every sporting event, every awards day, every performance that the students are involved in.... they are our blooms... we want a town full of beautiful flowers when they graduate... not a lot of weeds that overtake things and make them ugly. These little babies, who are sometimes much taller than me, need to know we care about them personally. One of my favorite memories from high school was a pep rally my sophomore year. All the teachers in the high school participated and made complete idiots of themselves. I loved it. We thought they would be so embarrassed because the game was to make them look like they were kissing. They were perfect! I knew then that they loved us. They also did Faculty Follies and poked fun at us and made us see ourselves through their actions. I can't tell you one thing they taught me... but they made me think that they loved me. When I came back home from college, when I had babies, and when I moved here... they still acted like they cared. This little town made me a bloom... I may be a weed in some people's eyes, but I'm trying to prune those weeds and produce some good fruit to follow in their footsteps. I want the children to be blooms in this town... I want them to know I care about them! I might try to prune them a little too much... but I sure do like when they come back after they graduate and ask my opinion.
The final garden... my home. The most important... the place where I am the true gardener, no matter what, and I can take a weed out quickly... and boy do they show up at our house. Last week Mark told me he didn't want KB to be a part of a pity party... and neither do I! I never knew how many people read this and how many would contact me... Now... I am somewhat leary of putting everything here because of that... but I will say that while we let a few weeds sprout up in the house that week..... we never let them take root and bloom. Many comments I would have loved to jump on and be negative in agreement with them... but we didn't... the cards fell where they did... and I have personally seen blessings already that make me sit back and giggle and say... I should have known you were taking care of us God... This morning in Sunday School we were asked if it was okay to ask God "WHY?" when things happen to us. I immediately knew it was absolutely fine to do that... Sometimes there isn't a clear reason as to why... and sometimes... it is very evident. I say all this... to say that no matter what weeds show up in my house... I have to concentrate on the fruit I am producing and cut the weeds out... As I sit here and type this... I have two beautiful blooms on my den floor doing research on Benjamin Franklin for a school report. They are sweet right now... loving... and helping.... I feel sure by the end of the night there will be unkind words, a hit or two, or maybe even a fight... but those two blooms... they are my fruit... I have to be rooted in good things to make them continue to bloom... If I let hatred, anger, bitterness, and any other emotion that might come along ground me... it will spill over to them.
I remember attending a church in Fountain Inn when Mark and I first got married. The preacher was discussing praying for children... he said the most profound thing... "Bathe your children in prayer... even before they get here!".... I never really thought about that until he said it, but it is so true... life is full of disappointments, defeats, desperate measures to get on top by others.... but if we focus on those and don't pray about them... they become weeds that take us over and consume the bad and good in our lives.
Tonight in church we listened to several questions that can be answered to make sure of salvation for those who are unsure....
Am I bearing fruit? What are you doing? What fruit are you producing? Are you grounded in Jesus?
Am I following Christ? Am I doing things that please Him? Am I following what He says?
Am I fishing for men? I am not active fisherman... or fisherwomen, but is the way I am living bringing people closer to Him or are people sitting back and saying..."She calls herself a Christian... but look how she is living!"
Am I faithful? For many years, I thought I didn't need to be at church everytime the door opened... Sunday morning was good enough... and maybe Sunday school.... but now... I am at the point that I want to know more and more... I'm hooked and want to know what the Bible says... life is so much easier now that I am faithful in attendance... and daily devotions... and prayer... I'm better on the inside for doing these things... but I am nowhere near where I need to be...
Am I repulsed by sin? Well... I think I am... there are so many things that I look at now and think I don't need to do that... and I did it once... I shouldn't have... I'm growing... and that is all in the plan... daily growth.
Am I depending on Jesus and Jesus alone to get to Heaven? Yes, I am. I know that He is the only way.
So tonight... I leave with this... I want to be a good bloom...from the tree I sprouted from... and I want to be a good tree for the two blooms I have in this house.... I want to be the best mama I can be... I want Ben and KB to look back and say that I gave them lots of things, but the most important thing I did was to give them an example to live by... what a task that is... especially when the world around us conforms to new trends and new ideas that aren't necessarily what needs to be done.
John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Let me bear good fruit... no matter what garden I am in... no matter the weeds around me... let me get rain, dirt, and sunshine in my life to make good blooms... and most of all... let me "Bloom Where I am Planted"!
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