When I was at my mom’s house recently, I looked down at my coffee cup at breakfast and noticed it said, “Bloom where you are planted.” At that time, I had been doing a lot of grumbling about where I have been temporarily transplanted but certainly no growing and especially no blooming.

Looking at that cup is when I decided that I had to begin working on my attitude about my present situation. Philippians 4:6-7 really stuck out at me:

The next week I beganlisting the things I was thankful for about my present situation. And you know what? It actually worked! I have become much more accepting of where I am in the last month. Then I decided put up the pictures to continue to help change my attitude about the apartment and to see it more as a home, and that helped a lot, too. Now not only do I feel like I have accepted where I’ve been planted and have found the promised peace, but I’m beginning to grow, and maybe, I’ll even eventually bloom.

This all made me think about how plants often thrive in their temporary spots. At the garden store, you see plants of all kinds thriving in those tiny little temporary pots. Or sometimes gardeners pot a plant temporarily to help it get a jump start. Then they plant it in the ground once it has had a little time to grow and become stronger.

So maybe God does the same thing. Maybe he plants us in temporary spots to get ahead and to become stronger before we are moved to a more permanent spot.

What do you think? What temporary sPot has God placed you in recently? Have you seen growth in yourself because of it?