Blooming Where You Are Planted
Make your current season of life awesome. You live in the present, not in the past. You aren’t Marty McFly.
There might be several things you can’t control in your life right now. Great, do your best where you can, and let it go. Maximize the things you can control. So much of your success in life will be marked by how well you transition from one season to the next. So wherever you are, whatever season of life you’re in (entering college, in college, graduating from college), you want to flourish there. Bloom where you are planted.
Joseph is the poster-child for this, right?
He’s the favorite among the brothers, and even though he was one of the youngest, he was one of the most faithful brothers.
He gets sold into slavery in Egypt, and what does he do? He’s so faithful that he’s promoted to the head of Potiphar’s house.
He gets thrown into prison for a false accusation from Potiphar’s wife, and what does he do? He’s so faithful that he gets put in charge of the other prisoner
Joseph recognized what so many of us fail to: sometimes you can’t control your circumstance, but that’s irrelevant. So much of your life will be about flourishing in less than ideal circumstances. Be faithful wherever you are. How can you add value there? 1 Corinthians 15 says that Jesus was a “life-giving spirit.” It says we are to bear Christ’s image. How can we give life to others where we are? Even if it’s not where we want to be?
There is always a temptation to wait around for ideal conditions, the ideal job, or a perfect stage, but you have to be faithful in the little things before you can be trusted with more.
We have a running joke in our office about a girl named “Emily Neal.” Now, before you lambast me for making fun of someone, hear me out. One day we were talking about society’s perception of millennials and how they are said to be lazy, entitled, clueless, etc… and one of my coworkers thought we were talking about some girl named “Emily-Neal” (millennial). She was confused for a quite a while and really though this person existed. Ever since that day we now refer to millennials as “Emily Neals.”
Now I know that was pretty ridiculous, but it must speak something about our generation. Some people have this perception of us, even if you feel it may be unfair to you.
So be the exception. I have to tell myself to do this every day. I have to work hard, even on tasks that aren’t my favorite.