A Seed is Planted

We had a garden in my backyard when I was growing up.

It was huge (at least to my recollection).

We grew beans (lots of beans), boniatos (a type of white sweet potato), yucca, and carrots.

I remember the carrots.

I remember them because I remember planting them in rows and going through the motions to make them grow.

It took a while, but they did.

Where you plant a seed is crucial. Different kinds of seeds NEED different conditions in order for them to thrive and become the plants they are designed to be.

If you plant mushroom spores next to a row of corn seedlings, they aren’t going to do very well.

This is where things get interesting.

People too, are planted.

Sometimes our choices help determine where.

Sometimes our circumstances do.

Sometimes we are planted against our will.

There are those who are happy where they are; and many who are miserable. To them, the grass always appears greener on the other side.

But what remains is this: we are all planted somewhere.

What do we do with this?

Do we fight against it? Do we strive to get out?

What are our motives for transplantation? To be happier? To have an easier life? To find freedom from our responsibilities? To have more money?

Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 says “Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.”

So very true!

The writer of Ecclesiastes concludes in the last verses of that chapter, “Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past. “

Our lot in life.

Are we unsettled because we realize that we’re not living the full life that God created us to live? That we’re living in the shadow of false dreams? That we are cheating ourselves and those around us?

What are we here for anyways?

Oswald Chambers once wrote “God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.”

We are called to BLOOM wherever we’re planted!

As we begin this series “Bloom Where You’re Planted”, we hope to wrestle with these questions and perhaps come up with some answers as we strive to find contentment and fulfillment wherever it is we’re planted.

Related Verses

Ecclesiastes 5:10-20
Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!

People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.

There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us.

And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry.

Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.

Philippians 4:10-13
How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.