God's Blooms
On one cold day this week the youngest and I had occasion to wander around the botanical gardens in Oklahoma City. I love nature and being outside, and when it's too cold for that a giant greenhouse is the next best thing.
The tropical flowers were blooming all over the place, in every color under the rainbow. It was a beautiful reminder of God's boundless creativity. Some grew on trees way up in the sky, some on trailing vines close to the ground. Others on a bush halfway up. And they came from every region of the world too. There's even a whole section of the garden just for cactus plants, many of which have beautiful blooms of their own. Most cactus grow in harsh desolate places, while some of the other flowers grow in the middle of a dense rainforest. But every plant seems to thrive when it's in its right habitat.
It made me think how Christians are meant to live in a certain habitat as well. Not just how some people live near the beach or the mountains, but in an environment of grace and mercy. We don't always get that chance of course. Sometimes the circumstances of life might feel like we are in the wrong place to bloom. But God has created the Christian in such a way that they can bloom no matter where they are planted.
No matter where you are in life right now, you can bloom and show the beauty that God has put inside you. One of the best way to do this is of course being connected to a local church. We have the chance to display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and all the fruits of the spirit through the body of Christ. When it feels like suffering or tragedy has brought us to a hard place in life, the Christian can still bloom because of the Son of God lives within us. Thankfully for Christians our blossoming is not dependent on the place we are in, but on the Christ who is in us. Through his life we can show beauty, no matter where we are.
