Bloom Where You Are Planted

Yesterday I encouraged my students to bloom where they are planted. This theme followed the previous week's theme of planting seeds.

We may not always choose the set of circumstances we are in. But we can always choose to bloom where we are planted.

When we have tilled the fertile soil of our hearts and planted seeds which then germinate under proper care, blooms will emerge at the most opportune time.

We cannot always choose what our life will look like - or control what happens - but we can always choose how we react to things. We can accept what is - and recognize the wisdom of Divine intervention and forces unseen, constantly at work in our lives.

True happiness and peace arises when we accept things as they are as the great "Serenity Prayer" by the theologian Reinhold Neibuhr so wisely states:

"God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change;
courage to change
the things I can,
and the wisdom
to know the difference."

This is the part of the prayer we all know. But this is the part seldom recited:

"Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one day at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that he will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him,
Forever in the next.
Amen."

What a beautiful invitation to bloom where we are planted!