A Lesson From The Tulips
I look forward to the spring flowers that return every year in front of my house. There’s just something about seeing those leaves pop through the ground that inspires hope. Rick planted beautiful daffodils, tulip bulbs and roses that bloom into gorgeous colors throughout the spring and summer. This year, the tulips are having a bit of a challenge though because the rosebushes have grown so much that now the tulips need to compete with them in order to fully bloom. The picture you see this month is two of those determined tulips. It reminded me that when it’s your time to bloom, nothing can stop you….if you’re determined.
Inside the DNA of a tulip, it’s programmed to bloom at the appointed time each year. God designed you and me exactly the same way. We are wired to bloom! Each of us is uniquely handcrafted by our Creator with a Divine design and destiny. Much the same as the rosebushes were to the tulips this year, we all experience challenges and frustrations that look like they will keep us from reaching our potential. However, if we are determined, we will press through the obstacles and bloom into our calling, just like the tulips!
Pressing Through Challenges
2021 has already presented so many challenges on multiple levels. By now, we have all grown accustomed to wearing masks, social distancing and making all the adjustments in our homes, work, church and social lives. With the hope of a solution in site, now we are faced with new decisions such as, “Is the vaccine right for me?” There isn’t a “one size fits all” solution to that question. Each person needs to pray about it and make the choice that is right for them. Please don’t let people’s opinions pressure you into doing something you don’t have peace about.
This year definitely didn’t start out the way I had hoped it would. That’s for sure. Upheaval at every political level kept my country in what seemed to be a perpetual state of division and strife. Nightly “Aha!” moments on the news seemed to be the broadcast du jour with new discoveries and developments regarding the US elections and all the drama that ensued afterwards.
What Is My Responsibility?
It was a challenge to remain positive and hopeful, even in my prayer closet. Accusations of false prophets spewing false prophecies littered my social media feed daily. I felt like the enemy was having a proverbial “heyday” at the expense of the Body of Christ and it made me angry. I turned back to my anchor, the Word of God, and chose to believe that NONE of the events that transpired had surprised God at all and actually His plan was still unfolding perfectly. I was faced with the question, “How do you wait when NOTHING looks like it’s supposed to?”
The Anchor for Our Soul
We have to be anchored to the truth and God’s Word is absolute truth. We can count on it. The promises within the Bible are always yes and amen. If you are facing challenges today, find a scripture and stand on it. Meditate on it. Speak it out of your mouth. Write it on post-it notes and put them all around your house. Anchor yourself in this truth and release your faith in agreement with it. I had to do this recently when I suddenly became so sick, I couldn’t even move. I had a high fever, body aches, no appetite and a LOUSY attitude! I had to remind myself that sickness doesn’t come from God and it can’t stay in my body! I got out my Bible and began to speak healing scriptures over myself everyday. My symptoms didn’t disappear immediately, but I am convinced they left a lot sooner than if I would have continually been saying, “I’m so sick! I don’t feel good!”
The Divine Connection
We are Divinely wired to speak. Our words are powerful and it’s SO important that we speak words of positivity and affirmation over ourselves and our loved ones. Be determined to inspire hope with your words and not doubt. Speak words that empower, not words that tear down. There will always be things that happen that are out of our control (rosebushes) but if we are committed, we will bloom through it. Anchor your words in the direction you want to see your life move towards. Don’t focus on the rosebushes, see beyond them to your full bloom.
Be encouraged to hope again. Find your anchor scripture; hang onto it with all your strength and you will find yourself rising above adversity and determined to fulfill your destiny!