I was in a hurry.
I was going to be late if I did not make it to the time clock within the next three minutes and it was a five minute walk, so my pace changed from a brisk walk into a soft jog.
The hallway was full of people coming and going in their business and I moved to the left to dodge a family of four who were so engrossed in their conversation that they would have collided with me. It happened when I dodged left. I looked out a windowed section of the hallway and I saw something truly spectacular.
I have traveled the length of that hallway thousands of times in the last year going to and from departments for my job but had never noticed what I did today.
I saw this little guy (or girl because it really could be) and honestly, this is the first time that i have ever noticed this little flower. This is, in fact, the only flower in a very poorly maintained courtyard that no one walks in.
So here it sits, and here it blooms and it does so regardless if anyone ever takes the time to maintain it or notice it or appreciate it's beauty. It just sits here and does what it knows to do. It blooms. It gives off it's color and it's fragrance for the time that it is allowed by it's creator to do so.
Why?
The answer to this is so simple that it made me stop and really think. It does this because that is where it was planted.
There is a mistake that is taught in the Church culture that says "Success is measured in decades." In other words, "If you stay in one place long enough or do the same job long enough then you are a success in the eyes of God". King Saul had that same mindset and it turned out pretty bad for him.
The truth is, Father does move people to and from places. He places them in positions of power or within a church body for a season. Father plants people in the life of other people for a season and it is not up to us to decide how long or in what way He chooses to use them in that assignment.
I was reading this passage this past weekend and all of the sudden, the little flower in the poorly cared for courtyard made sense.
I was reading a letter written by a similar plant.
The apostle Paul.
He was imprisoned and more than likely would be executed within a short time from when this letter was written to the church at Phillipi.
Here in a dirty, and poorly cared for courtyard if you will, surrounded by people whose lives resembled weeds and bitter plants there is a yellow flower.
It strains to take in the SON light and in turn processes that light into energy to emit a fragrance of sweetness and a color that honors it's creator.
Paul is giving off a powerful and beautiful fragrance to people who are in need and I cannot help but think about who else is within view of this courtyard that would be affected by the sight of a single flower just doing what it knew to do.
Blooming where it was planted. Inhale this fragrance with your eyes for a moment.
"But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." ~Phillipians 1:12-14
I have to ask a question here.
How many people would have gone into that prison looking to see Christ?
Now ask this question in light of the understanding that Paul had. God planted him there for a season.
How much love is being displayed from an insanely powerful God who would arrange Himself a flower bed (Prison setting) for His flower to be planted in. For the sole aspect of reflecting Himself to those who would normally walk right on by but had to stop to see this flower.
I LOVE this passage.
"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." ~ Genesis 2:8
God plants a garden and places a man in it.
He did not stop back then.
Father still prepares places and circumstances (Let's call those flower beds) that He chooses to plant His flowers in. Father prepares these flower beds and even arranges other flowers to be planted in them. He arranges His flowers together for seasons to give off a particular fragrance and color pattern and as with everything that He creates, it is to give glory to Him.
Have you ever wondered why certain people were introduced to your life for a season and then suddenly removed just as if you had never met them? Why is that? Once you were close and gained confidence and strength through the color fragrance that they provided and then it was if you were never planted together.
It was for a season. Father plants people together and moves them at His will. You grow with each other and then He digs up and replants in another flower bed. The reason is the same each and every transplant. Soak Him deep in order to display how He made you to display for those that only you can display for.
Look how David worded it.
"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." ~Psalms 1:3
Here is the problem. When Father transplants us from one flower bed to another, we take it as a personal attack. We cannot just let it happen without assuming that there was a problem and ultimately we need to create a hostility to justify the transplant.
This is selfish at best and there have been a few times that I have needed to be reminded that it was Father who does the planting and it is Father who does the arranging and it is Father who knows what is best for me, His flower, as well as the mood He is creating with that particular flower bed in that particular season.
Some time back i was watching one of those gardening shows and these guys were way to into what they were doing. A really good landscaper plants with the intention of moving what he has planted after a certain cycle of seasons. He does this for the soil and for the general atmosphere he is looking to create.
Father is THE MASTER LANDSCAPER.
He is way to into what He does! He plants with the intention of doing what is best for the flower bed as well as for the general atmosphere He is looking to create.
So what then?
How do we "be ok" when He moves us to another flower bed or moves others out of ours?
We trust Him and don't take it as a failure on our part or create offenses against others, and we simply soak Him in and bloom the color and fragrance that He gives us to bloom and let the other plants do the same.
"Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." ~Phillipians 4:9-13
This is only done through Christ. We can only do this when we soak Him in and bloom through His strength and energy.
Easier said than done, but Life was never promised to be easy.... It was promised to be possible!
Bloom today and don't stop for anything or anyone because you were planted in the flower bed you were planted in to do just that. Don't focus on the flowers that have been removed or waste effort questioning why they left or how they left. Just bloom your color and fragrance so that other recieve the message that you were planted to give!!!
Planted with you,
~Dan
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