Grow Where You Are Planted

Have you ever noticed how often we’re dissatisfied with what God’s given us? We complain and wish for something different or better. We try to control our lives and make them go the way we want, but to no avail.

I wonder if it makes God sad that we aren’t satisfied with his choices for us.

You’ve probably heard the term “grow where you are planted.” I heard it in a sermon back in December on accepting who God created us to be and where he’s planted us. I felt like the Holy Spirit hit me with a brick about my discontent.

The message was on Matthew 6:26-29, “Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do no labor or spin. Yet I tell you not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed as one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”

I realized, not only do the flowers not toil or spin or try to control what they look like, they also don’t argue about where God places them.

I have spent a lot of my life wanting to control my environment and my life. In the last several years, I’ve realized the importance of appreciating who God has made me and what he’s given me. I have tried to surrender to God’s will for my life without being disgruntled. I thought I was doing well in this endeavor. However, during that message the Holy Spirit made it abundantly clear to me that I was still blinded to what was left of my spirit of discontent. I still was toiling and spinning to try to control things in my life I truly couldn’t.

Probably my longest held attitude of discontent has been living in Las Vegas. I moved here 33 years ago because of my husband’s health and a new job with CCSD. During this time in Vegas, I have spent most of my years wanting to move to cooler pastures. I dislike the heat in the summer and being raised in Denver, I am a mountain girl and enjoy cold weather. Working for CCSD, I would get so frustrated when we had the summer off but it was so hot. I remember thinking, “what a waste of a summer.” I desperately wanted to change where God planted me, but for family reasons I haven’t had the opportunity to leave.

I am finally realizing that if I don’t give in and let God be in control, I will never reap the full blessings of the life he has for me.  It’s only when I surrender my desires to him and trust his choices for my life that I can truly hear him, know him, and live for him.

This summer I am intentionally appreciating the heat of Vegas. After all, it’s only the heat and crazy drivers in Vegas that I truly dislike. The blessings of my life in Vegas include a devoted family, an amazing group of friends, a job that is very fulfilling, a church in which I am deeply involved and a house I love.

I believe God was teaching me a weather appreciation lesson this summer when I spent a week near Dallas, Texas in 100-degree temperatures and high humidity. While there I thought, “I can’t wait to get back to the dry heat of Vegas.” I came back to Vegas with a different perspective, appreciating the dry air and realizing crazy drivers are everywhere.

God may have it in his will for me to move at some point or I may be in Vegas for the rest of my life. I don’t want to argue and complain anymore at the risk of missing the blessings he has for me right where I am.  I choose to focus on Ephesians 3:20 which states, “Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” I love this verse because it lends to the excitement and joy we can feel when we surrender our lives to him. Let’s live in that!

Judi Davis, Ph.D., LMFT

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