Bloom Where You Are Planted

Stress. 

What a destructive, hostile, and toxic word. We've all felt it; in fact, for some, it's become as well-known as a friend. 

I get stressed easily. A few of the things that cause me stress are: grades, deadlines, a busy schedule, commitments, confrontation, pleasing others, and not being good enough. I think that the last one encapsulates most of my stress. I want to be perfect - since I was created to be perfect (reference to previous blog post) - yet I know that I can't attain perfection in this life. However, verbalizing that and knowing it in my heart are two entirely different things...

This week has been a kaleidoscope of activities that all accumulated into the solid color of stress. Today I felt overwhelmed and, to be honest, quite beaten by anxiety. It was then, in a quiet moment in which my soul cried for help, that I realized how very silly and out of my place my stress was. Why? 

Because God's sovereignty destroys stress.

God is sovereign, meaning that He has all authority and power in Heaven and on Earth. Life is crazy and busy and hard to bear sometimes, but if you believe that God is Lord, Savior, and King, stress has no place in your life. Stress is a fear of the future, and God holds the future in His hands. I've heard this many times (and so have you, probably) but I have never truly understood what it looked like to live this out. Today, though, I felt it and saw how wonderfully He takes care of us, and how that truth should make stress dissipate like the morning fog. 

Genevieve is a small flower pot that I bought and have watered every day for the past few weeks. She has bloomed now, and brings me many smiles!

Genevieve

She does not worry, though, that I will not water her, put her in the sunshine, or perhaps wonder why I didn't make her a different or more beautiful plant. She simply blooms where she is planted.

And that's what we ought to do. We ought to bloom where we are, always striving to become the most beautiful that we can be...but not worrying about the "what ifs". 

Do your best. 

Leave God the rest. 

This is a simple lesson. But then again, most truths are simple; it's the living them out that creates complexity. 

Are you doing your best? Are you studying with integrity? Are you making an effort to get rest so that you can function well? Are you being a good steward of your time? Are you pursuing excellence? Are you serving others? Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as unto the Lord..." This doesn't mean that you do everything. It just means that what you are doing, you should do with all of your heart. 

Like Genevieve, we ought to bloom right where we are, not worrying and fretting that our Master will not tend to us, because He will (that is where the analogy breaks down, for I am not a perfect Gardener as my Lord is). Blooming where we are gives us peace...we don't have to worry about the storms we have to endure and we don't have to stress about being "better." I think this conversation from The Lord of the Rings eloquently describes my thoughts:

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. 

"So do I," said Gandalf, "but so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given us." 

Don't worry about something that you cannot change. Focus on the present moment and what you are going to do with the time that is given to you. 

I don't want stress to become your friend. I want you to have peaceful assurance and true joy.

But I cannot tell a lie. Those things only come from Jesus Christ. You can try every fitness program, read every book on therapy, and go on every vacation and still discover that you have no peace. C.S. Lewis said it best,

"God cannot give us a happiness and a peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."

I want you to live a life lived moment-by-moment in the grace of your Creator. I want you to be able to say that "it is well with my soul", not because you don't have five midterms to study for, and not because the sorrows of life don't seem too much to handle, but because you know the One who controls tomorrow and He is infinitely and unsearchably wise.

This week, try practicing this. Stress is not real; it is a feeling that we inflict upon ourselves when we don't trust in our Savior. Next time you feel stressed, tell yourself where your identity lies: not in your grades, your looks, your talents, or anything that you do. It lies in what you are, and you are a child of the Most High King who has plans to prosper you and not to harm you. What reason, then, is there to stress?

Bloom where you are planted, dear one. Seek out and receive His warm rays of sovereignty and mercy. Flourish under His care and don't fret about the future. Blossom the most beautifully that you can in this moment that you have been given.