A Word to Live Into

There is a beautiful flowering bush blooming outside my window. It is filled with white flowers from top to bottom. We have had this bush for many years. I always find it a wonder when it is in full bloom, especially because just a few weeks earlier, all it had to show for itself was some bare branches.

I have to admit that while I would love to always be blooming, I often go through a lot of bare-branched days. As one person said, “Every flower blooms in its own time.” It’s a process. The same is true for you and me.

There is a passage in the Bible that I like. Jesus says, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit…A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.” (Luke 6:43-45)

The fruit or the blossoms are a product of its health and vitality. They come through a process of growth and development. What’s on the inside counts. The fruit is a sign of its flourishing. An unhealthy tree does not produce good fruit. A bloom comes with time and the right conditions. Blooming is a process that flows from health and vitality. A bloom shows that the tree is good.

Both plants and people need the right conditions to grow. You need a purpose. You need nourishment that leads to life - good soil. You need air to keep you alive. You need the right climate to sustain you. You need to be in an environment suitable for life and growth. For people, this includes who is around you.

Writer and counselor David Benner points out that a tulip knows exactly what it is. It is not tempted to be anything else. It knows that it is made to bloom. It was made to give glory to God by being exactly what it is. (1)

This is something important to remember. We can be who we are. A flower does not look across the way to see how all the other flowers are doing. It remains true to itself. It blooms where it is planted.

To grow, you need to know yourself, accept your needs and limitations, and be open to change so you can go beyond where you are. You can change and not grow, but you cannot grow without changing.

To bloom and to be fruitful, we need help. We need the right conditions for growth. We need the care of a gardener who knows and understands what it takes for us to flourish. We need strong roots. We need a source of life that sustains us.

“Remain in me, as I remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine, “ Jesus says, “Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (Jn 15: 4)

__________________

1. David Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call of Self-Discovery