Read a good book recently, Night Light by Terri Blackstock.
●A
short quote: "I realized, as all that was happening before my eyes,
that this was what I wanted to convey in this series. That each of us is
put in place for a particular time in particular circumstances and
prepared in a particular way, not knowing what God will need us for.
Some of us have experienced tragedies and crises with no answers from
God about why he would drag us through such pain, only to find that it
qualified us uniquely to do some mighty work of God when the time of
someone elses's crisis came. And that's how the body of Christ works."
Some reflections on my early life when my family grew about 2 acres of field grown pansies.
●Pansies are Bi Annuals, meaning they go through the winter
and come back to life the next spring. We also go through some trying
times..sooner or later.
The
beautiful field of flowering pansies in the fall and then again in the
spring were ready to be dug up and then were transplanted in other people's
gardens. God sometimes transplants us also...due to changing life
situations...marriage, career, death and other events.
●But WHY should we Bloom Where We Are Planted?
● As a believer in Jesus Christ and desiring to be a good
steward and a faithful "follower" of Jesus on our way to glory...we
can be a light for others to see the Truth.
●At the end of our lives, I would like to say or have said, "I have fought the good fight, I have fnished
the course, I have kept the faith." (2 Tim. 4:7)
●"The Lord created each of us individually with different
Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, strengths and a unique personality with
different experiences. Helping each other put the pieces of the seeming
puzzle together so we each can be most effective in our families, church,
community and the world and finish our lives well and leave a legacy that gives
glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."
●Isn't that what we would like to hear one day?
●"God has created each of us with a unique contribution
to make in our world and our times. No other person has our same abilities,
motivations, network of friends and relationships, perspectives, ideas, or
experiences. When we, like misplaced puzzle pieces, fail to show up, the
overall picture is diminished." Richard Stearns: President of
World Vision U.S.
Quote from his book: The Hole in our Gospel
● We are Jesus's hands and feet in the world.
● "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians
2:10
● As
I was looking back at the pictures of the pansies...and thinking about
the phrase.."Bloom where you are planted"...I was thinking of all the
steps that went into producing these beautiful flowers...and how our
lives are like that.
●Was looking for some spiritual principles or analogies.
●As there are different varieties and colors of pansies, so too is the human race.
●Some varieties of pansies only had a few
flowers on the plant and other varieties had a mass of flowers..it made
me think of how we can go through life with only a few other close
friends and we can also have many more friends to encourage us.
● The pansies were seeded for a
purpose...to bring joy to the people who bought them. Just like our
father "plants" us for a purpose...
●
Pansies are Bi Annuals, meaning they go through the winter and come back
to life the next spring. We also go through some trying times..sooner
or later.
●The
beautiful field of flowering pansies in the fall and then again in the
spring were ready to be dug up and then were transplanted in other
people's gardens. God sometimes transplants us also...due to changing
life situations...marriage, career, death and other events.
●God, the master gardener created each of us unique...plants us here
for a short time...for a specific purpose...and cares for us. "Lord,
open our eyes and heart". "Come Holy Spirit, Come, you are welcome
here"
●Many other analogies can be drawn. Would love to see your comments!
●A few pictures of field grown pansies...from our farm many years ago.
●The individual beautiful pansy plants grew well in the field where
they were planted for the allotted time they were there. They were
seeded in the field for a purpose...The next year they were
individually dug up, put in containers and sold to people who then
transplanted them to their gardens to be viewed.
Copied from my Storyworth story!
Thinking more of the “Transplanting” process:
It doesn’t happen instantly, but progress’s over time.
When
the pansies were dug, boxed and delivered to the Sentry and Kohl’s
warehouses…Took a day’s time. Then they were in the warehouse or on the
dock for a day or two. If outside on the dock in the sun for a period of
time, stress on the plants. Then they were delivered to the stores, up
to 200 miles away in some cases…again over a period of time. Then
unloaded at the store. Hopefully, there was someone there to water them
and keep them alive and looking good until someone purchased them. The
beautiful pansy plants didn’t go instantly from our field into someones
garden immediately and keep looking great. A lot of stress. So too with
our changing events in our lives, be it a job change, starting college,
starting a new business, a new exciting volunteer opportunity or
challenging interpersonal relations. Sometimes or even all the time, we
don’t realize what others are or may be going through until or unless we
also experience a change in our lives. We need personal “self care”.
And to continue to “Bloom” where the LORD has planted us, and not fade,
die in spirit or become discouraged…until the transplanting process is
completed and we continue to grow and “bloom” as we did before the
transplanting process started. We need to stay close to the LORD and
have friends and family that encourage us. Then when the transplanting
process is completed, if it ever is, we will again bloom more beautiful
than we did before. Just like the pansies in the field. They were not
designed to be grown in a controlled environment free of stress, but to
be grown and bloom beautifully in someone’s garden!
Encouraging
& challenging people to be “rooted”, “grounded” and “grow” and so
bloom” where they are “planted” in their neighborhood, world and
career…using their Passion”,” Abilities”,” Gifts”, “Strengths” and prior
“Experiences” God has gifted them with and thereby bringing glory and
honor to the LORD. 1st Corinthians 10:31
Peace.
Grates of 5 -2 quart baskets of pansy plants. 6 plants to a quart basket.
We could not supply enough to Sentry Food stores at the time and a
neighbor got into the business and packaged the same with lessor quality
product and also sold to Sentry. I put labels on our crates so the
individual stores could ask for our pansies!
Sounds like "Branding"
