Blooming Where You’re Planted
John 15:1-2 Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. He also trims every branch that produces fruit to prepare it to produce even more.” (John 15:1-2)
When you’re confronted with a problem, the easiest thing to do is simply to run away. Don’t like this person? Ditch them. Don’t like my boss? Change jobs. Don’t like my wife? Divorce her.
That’s how it goes. Everything’s disposable these days, including relationships. But what if it wasn’t meant to be like that?
One day, when I was contemplating running away from a situation, something that was causing me a lot of pain, God did a powerful thing inside me, and convinced me to stay right where I was, right in the middle of that painful situation.
From a human standpoint, it didn’t make sense. Lots of people, people I respected, counselled me to walk away. But I felt that God was telling me to stay. It would have been so much easier to move on, and yet, to me, God’s calling to stay was clear and unmistakable. I have to tell you, it hurt like hell, at least what I imagined hell would be like.
The situation didn’t resolve itself in my favour. It never turned out to be what I’d desperately hoped it would be. And to those around me, I looked like a loser. Hey, I felt like a loser.
But now, many years on, I look back on that time as one of the defining moments in my life – a time when God did a mighty work in my character. A time when He taught me important lessons about loyalty and honour. A time when God pruned some of the dead branches out of my life so that I could flourish.
Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. He also trims every branch that produces fruit to prepare it to produce even more.” (John 15:1-2)
Granted, there are times when we have to walk away, when we do have to move on. And yet sometimes, God calls us to stay where we are, because He wants to do some pruning, so that we can produce even more fruit. He wants us to bloom, right where He’s planted us.
Those times of pruning generally hurt like hell, but eventually, they produce a harvest in abundance. And as Jesus goes on to say:
It is to my father’s glory that you produce much fruit.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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Rob Messmer
That’s a tough one Bernie, but remembering that scripture “through many tribulations we enter the gates of ...
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That’s a tough one Bernie, but remembering that scripture “through many tribulations we enter the gates of heaven” i suppose it makes good sense.