Is This Good Advice?
Bloom where you are planted.
We had a stepping stone in front of our mailbox that said, “Bloom where God planted you.”
In the past, I wouldn't say I liked that saying. What kind of choice was that? What if I didn’t like where I was planted?
Today, I cherish that idea.
What changed?
Of course, the way I interpreted the phrase.
When I first heard the phrase, I thought it meant I had to accept a hard life and be less of a person than I dreamed I could be. I believed I could make things better than where I had been planted.
I also thought that whoever wrote that saying didn’t understand God.
I was wrong. It was me who didn’t understand God.
Instead of understanding the message, I was reacting from an independent, “I can do it” human ego and personality attitude.
I wish I could say that it was a fast journey to understanding, but for the most part, it has been a slow progression to awareness of the message behind this saying.
Here is one way to interpret it.—as a human.
Even if we look at the message from a human standpoint, which most of us do, the message is that we can trust that God will only plant us where we will bloom.
Even in the worst conditions, we can trust that we can bloom there because we are always provided for and loved by Love Itself. That will give us the skills to make the most of it.
That’s the human version. It’s not a bad way to look at it.
But what about another way?
What if we realized that God couldn't have created terrible conditions because God is omnipresent good?
When we decide to trust that idea, that perception, we can begin to let go of our human worldviews about what we think we are seeing and instead see it as it is.
Choosing and maintaining that perception will eliminate terrible conditions as quickly as the light removes the darkness.
But the worldview is where we live most of the time, and our mental discussions about it keep us from seeing the truth and blooming in our lives.
Instead of blooming, we whine, blame, feel regret and guilt, and desire something different in the past, present, or future.
We relive the past as if it were the present and repeat to ourselves what we didn’t like and haven’t forgiven others or ourselves for doing.
The worldview survives by selling us the story that things go wrong, that there isn’t enough, that people are to blame, and that we need and need and need some more.
The limited worldview only exists because we continue to accept it, agreeing with its version of lack, fear, blame, and guilt.
What can we do when it feels like the worldview surrounds us and is stronger than us?
We can listen to Elisha, who said to his fearful servant, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” (Bible - Kings 6: 17)
Accepting this truth will begin to heal us of our blindness so that we can clearly and permanently see that the way of the worldview is not the way we seek, nor is it the truth of our being.
We can rise above what appears as a human personality self, become aware of the omnipotence of abundance, and focus only on what is good, true, and pure.
We are all aware that our perception “creates” reality.
However, let’s get this straight.
It doesn’t create or recreate what God has already made.
The truth is that God has planted each of Its ideas, known as us, in the perfect place to fully express all that God is.
Let’s shut off the messages trying to sell us a different picture.
Let’s not buy this story any longer.
Once we surrender our human story, the truth of God’s care reveals itself, and our circumstances progressively match our awareness of the consistent care of Love.
If we are unsure how to accomplish this, we can turn to the one thing that always breaks open the illusion—gratitude.
No matter where we are, we can be grateful for what we have and for the awareness that omnipresent Love is ever-present.
No matter how complicated the human worldview tries to make it, no matter how many lack stories it tells, it remains this simple.
When we know, live, and speak only the Truth, we are freed from the worldview story, and we will each bloom in all our individual beauty where God has planted us in his perfect love for Its own ideas, known as us.
So go ahead and bloom where you have been planted. You have everything you need now to do so, and then imagine the beautiful garden our blooms will make.
And yes, I have a book called Blooming Your Life, just in case you want more thoughts on blooming. You can also join my newsletter, which is all about shifting perceptions.