I’d never had a window box before, but I always wanted one. Well, lo and behold, I finally got my window box. Our tiny little house came with the sweetest little wooden box hanging outside our kitchen window. Our landlord had planted some pansies, but they had unfortunately not done so well, and withered more every day. I’ve never had much of a green thumb, but I decided to make this window box my project. So, off I went to Home Depot to get some more pansies. How hard could it be right? Just throw in some plants and they’ll grow! Famous last words.
It didn’t take long for the pansies to die. I felt pretty silly asking friends why my pansies weren’t surviving. I mean c’mon, their name is synonymous with the word ‘sissy’. Even bullies use it when they pick on the little nerdy kid in school, “hey c’mon you pansy!”
Well, first came the snails. Those ravenous little herbivores made a Las Vegas buffet out of my window box. Not for long though, good old Morton’s salt took care of them. Forgive me for being morbid, but I rejoiced when those little suckers met their doom! So, I moved on to snapdragons. Not much luck with them either, they withered away in no time. I’d kept them moist, I’d let them dry out. I’d made sure they got enough sun, I tilled the soil. Nothing I did has made the slightest bit of difference. They were, without question, going to die. I was fighting a losing battle. Maybe I should’ve planted weeds, they never seem to have any trouble do they?
One day as I was doing the dishes, I peeked out at my sad little window box. I’m not sure what I was hoping for. But, there amongst a sad, shriveling garden of pink snapdragons was a single, solitary bright yellow pansy. It is beyond me how that little flower made it’s way through the soil! But of course, true to form, God taught me a lesson through that measly little flower! I’ve seen it embroidered on a pillow somewhere “bloom where you’re planted”. We are all planted in our own little places in life. Some of us are single, some married, divorced, widowed, working, students, unemployed, parents, teachers, pilots, housekeepers, nannies, musicians, or maybe you’re retired. No matter what your place is right now, you have been planted right there at this moment by God, it is no coincidence. He has you right where you are for a purpose, and now it’s your choice. Are you going to grow or are you going to shrivel up and die?
The Bible says that God has given us everything we need for life. In the same way I gave my flowers soil, water, sunlight, and some TLC, God is faithful to give us all the tools we need to thrive in the place He has us. What if God has planted you in a place where surviving seems impossible? Can you still grow? Better yet, can you THRIVE?! Absolutely! It’s not your power, it’s God’s power working in you.
Obviously, my window box, for whatever reason, is not conducive to growing much of anything, but somehow that little flower had enough oomph to push it’s little pansy self up through the soil. It was determined to soak up the sunlight beaming down on it!
So, even if all the other snapdragons around you are wilting and fading away, it is up to you to do the growing! C’mon you pansy, you can do it!