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There is
an old saying for every discouraging situation: "Bloom
Where You Are Planted!" It means we ought not
to run away from adversity. Don't give up. Be positive and
react with a plus. But what happens when you're not
planted in the Garden of Eden, and instead you find
yourself planted near Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactors that
are melting down, similar to Chernobyl? Yes, everyone has
their own Chernobyl, everyone will sooner or later be planted
in a desert, a mighty bleak place where nothing blooms, because
of circumstances beyond our control, or so pessimists would
think.
But look
again, God has programmed into every desert ecology a multitude
of hardy plants which thrive in harsh environments and not
just cactus. Scientists have developed new crops of improved
weeds! Yes, weeds! These weeds have been found to be nutritious
and are most promising for pharmaceutical and industrial products.
Remember
what happened in Alabama, when the boll weevil struck the
cotton crops and devastated the whole area? People kept planting
cotton, but the boll weevil kept wiping out the crops and
most of the farms. The south was in trouble! So a few who
survived decided to plant something they'd never planted before...PEANUTS!
The rest of the story is history, and the south reaped the
rewards that go on to this day.
Do you
know what those farmers did with their new-found wealth? They
erected in the town square a monument to the boll weevil!
Yep, if it hadn't been for the boll weevil they never would
have discovered peanuts. Out of disaster there can be great
delight. Life flourishes even in a dry desert. And where there
is life, there is hope. We Christians know that God works
well in the deserts of life, even in the worst of situations
the Lord of creation helps us make something better. Are there
any "boll-weevil monuments" you could erect in your
life? If you read Colossians 1:5, 6, and 23 it sounds like
Paul is saying "Bloom where you are planted?"
We can
complain because the rose bushes have thorns OR rejoice because
the thorn bushes have roses!
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