Don't Count Me Out!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jer. 29:11). 

I move alot. Not bragging or complaining . . . only stating a fact. The thing is, not only do I move, but my garden and plants move also. Why, I can't leave my grandmother's peonies and snowball viburnum, my great-grandparents iris, my mother's daylilies, or my daddy's hosta. They have to stay with me. Not only the sentimental plants, but I have other favorites I have to move too. The mystery bush with little pink flowers my grandmother gave me, the perennials that I can't leave behind, the gift plants like my new ever blooming hydrangea. Yes, all must go.

How do I "pack" and move these special belongings? Many of them get planted back into pots but there are others I dig up and drop down into plastic grocery bags. This "bag method" of moving plants works well for my smaller plants, especially perennials. Sometimes my plants get replanted at their new home as soon as they arrive but there have been times when they sit patiently in the containers and bags for months -- waiting.

This last move I once again dug up plants, however they didn't have to wait long to be replanted. I spent an afternoon placing them in their new spots and then a couple of weeks later, as I was checking on them, I realized I had left a couple of the plastic bags in the flower bed. As I lifted the bags, a clump of dirt fell to the ground. In the middle of the clump was a small, anemic daylily. As it was trying to unfurl it's stem and leaves to get through the soil and plastic bag toward light, it was as if it was saying "Don't Count Me Out!" Needless to say I found a special place for this plant that was determined to make it no matter what the circumstances.

Hmmmmm . . . determined to make it no matter what the circumstances. As I looked at this struggling, but determined plant I saw myself -- for I too have been planted only to be dug up time after time and replanted and replanted. At times I have also gone through difficult circumstances where I felt I was left alone in a bag full of dirt, thrown away in a garden and presumably forgotten. Oh, but I too cry out "Don't Count Me Out!" For as small and anemic as I may feel, I continue to get through the circumstances and toward the "Light." I know I have not been forgotten and there is still a place for me to grow, bloom, thrive, and be used of God. For His word tells me, and tells you too, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jer. 29:11). 

"Bloom Where You're Planted" . . . 

Well, I say . . . 

"Bloom Even If You Aren't YET Planted!!!"

And never forget -- GOD HAS A PLAN.