Sunday, June 7, 2015

Blooming where planted

As I was leaving my house to go back to work after lunch, I noticed a flower in the middle of the grass.  I stopped and looked at it closer because it wasn't in a flower garden area, but in the middle of the grass.  I showed it to the McCoys and they said they had been cleaning out some of their flower pots and threw some of the bulbs on the ground, and one of them apparently bloomed.

As a missionary it is good if you are able to bloom where you are planted.  At times you can feel like a discarded bulb - like you are just thrown out and that you don't matter because no one back home keeps in touch with what you are doing, or you can feel that you are in a new place without the comforts of "home" to help you grow and thrive.  Despite the challenges, part of being a missionary is to learn to make do in your new environment, your new home with the resources available to you, different as they maybe from what you once knew, if you are going to survive.

It has been almost 8 years since I first came to PNG.  At times I have definitely felt forgotten and discarded and alone, but I thank God that I have learned how to adapt to the resources, the people and the culture and have been able to survive and thrive here.  I am thankful for the chance to be planted in a new place and pray that I can keep blooming where He plants me.