Planted Here, for a Purpose

Dear CFC Family,

“Bloom where you are planted.”

It’s a phrase I heard many years ago, just after Reuben and I got married, when my heart was still very much at my previous church. I remember wrestling with God about it. Why do I need to come to this church? Why can’t Reuben come and join me at mine?

I was trying to work through my disappointment and hurt when wise woman in my life simply said to me, “You know what? Bloom where you are planted.”

Those words stayed with me. And lately, I’ve found myself thinking about them again. Because I think we can struggle to bloom in our current season in more ways than one.

Sometimes we're looking ahead.

We think, “When the children are older, things will be easier.”

“When work settles down, I'll have more time.”

“When this responsibility is finished, I'll have more peace.”

We keep telling ourselves that the next season will be better.

But then there are times when we do the opposite.

We look back.

We remember a season when life felt simpler, when we had more time, when things felt easier, when we were happier. And we find ourselves thinking, “Those were the good old days.”

Sometimes we don't even realise how much we're living in a season that has already passed. We're still mourning it. Still comparing today to yesterday. Still wishing we could go back to the way things were.

And whether we're constantly reaching forward to the next season or constantly looking backwards at the last one, we can miss the one we're actually in.

We can become so focused on where we've been or where we're going that we fail to recognise what God is doing here.

I was recently talking to a dear friend about the many roles and responsibilities women carry today. She said something along the lines of "This corporate life was not God's design for women" and that made me think deeply about the season we find ourselves in.

As I prayed about it, I felt the Holy Spirit remind me that none of this has caught God by surprise.

David writes in Psalm 139:

«“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

Psalm 139:13»

And just a few verses later:

«“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Psalm 139:16»

Before you ever arrived in this world, God knew you. He knew the generation you would live in. He knew the world you would grow up in, the opportunities you would have, the pressures you would face, and the responsibilities you would carry. He knew you would be here.

And I felt Him ask me:

“Do you really think I didn't know the day and age I was sending you into?”

“Don't you think My plan for you is bigger than all the roles and responsibilities you think you need to fit into?”

And then came the simple invitation:

Draw close to Me.

Come away with Me.

Sit at My feet.

Listen to what I am saying in this season.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28:

«“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”»

Notice that Jesus doesn't say, “Come to Me when your circumstances change.”

He says, “Come to Me.”

Come as you are.

Come in the middle of the busyness.

Come in the middle of the uncertainty.

Come when you're tired.

Come when you're carrying more than you thought you would.

Come when you're struggling to understand why you're in this particular season.

Because maybe the answer isn't always waiting for the next season.

And maybe the answer isn't going back to the previous one either.

Maybe God wants to meet us here.

Right here.

In this season.

In the middle of the busy schedules, the responsibilities, the changes, the things we didn't expect and even the things we wish were different. Because blooming where you are planted doesn't mean that everything around you is perfect.

It means trusting the One who planted you.

It means allowing Him to do something in you now, rather than constantly wishing yourself somewhere else.

Perhaps the question isn't, “When will this season be over?”

And perhaps it isn't, “Why can't things be like they used to be?”

Perhaps the question is simply:

“Lord, what are You wanting to grow in me here?”

There is something about the present that we can so easily overlook. We can spend so much time grieving what was or anticipating what will be that we fail to notice what God is doing today.

So wherever you find yourself right now, my encouragement is simple:

Don't live in a season God has already brought you through.

Don't constantly postpone your joy until the next one.

Bloom where you are planted.

Draw close to Him.

Sit at His feet.

Listen for His voice.

And trust that the God who knew exactly when and where He would plant you also knows exactly what He wants to grow in you there.

With love,

Aneen