Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Bloom Where You are Planted and Endure to the End




Around Mother's Day this year, my Visiting Teaching companion brought me a little flowering plant in a miniature clay pot as a token of her friendship, with wishes for a happy Mother's Day. It was a kind and thoughtful gesture, and I am grateful for her friendship.

With little thought, I plunked the little plant in the safest place in my house for a plant: on the window sill over the kitchen sink. And there it has remained all these months. With little thought, I have watered it whenever it looked thirsty. The backdrop behind it has changed noticeably three times -- from spring to summer, then summer to fall, and most recently, to winter. Through these many months, without missing a single day, it has been decked out in dainty pink blossoms. Today I looked at my little friend, and it gave me a message loud and clear: Bloom where you are planted, and endure to the end.

Our Heavenly Father has planted us in the choicest spot for us in His vineyard. He has provided for our spiritual and temporal nourishment. He asks that we do the best we can where we are and with what resources are available to us, and that we not give up. To bloom where we are planted, and to endure to the end. What more to be said?

Only that I hope my little friend holds on. I am so grateful for the encouragement.