"Bloom where you are planted"

Or is the phrase "Grow where you are planted"? I don't know but this little phrase sure helped me out when I was in one my most discontented states. I first pondered this quote 3 years ago when I went on my first women's retreat with South Main Street Baptist Church. I was struggling at this time with moving to Greenwood and being a stay-at-home "single" mother. It was Joey's intern year and Bethany and I spent most of out time without our man. Greenwood didn't have much for me to do and I terribly missed working as an HIV case manager and my co-workers that had become great friends. I was just kind of unhappy. But once our speaker Ruth McWhite started to share about a season in her life where she felt this way she quoted this little saying and told how it really made a difference in her life. I started thinking about that and it hit me that I was only going to grow more miserable if I continued this state-of-mind. It's funny how easily your outlook on life can change by just being more positive.

I thought of that season of my life today as I was harvesting our first crops out of the garden. Only weeks ago we planted little seeds that needed sunlight, water, and nutrients. We took special care during this time to water and feed them so they would grow and bear fruit. It's such a wonderful analogy of us. At the beginning of our relationship with God we need spiritual food and nutrients. We need our roots to grow deep so that when the drought of life hits are roots are deeply planted and we can still bear fruit.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and i in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

John 15:5

Monty watching me harvest my veggies! Last year he got into the little fence around the garden and ate much of our veggies. He also ate several cantaloupe that had vined outside of the fence.

Note all of Bethany's plastic eggs that he has chewed!

Our Garden!

We have squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, okra, tomato,red and green peppers and lettuce.

Me with my 2 squash and zucchini! Can't wait to cook those things up...yum!