“This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it,” Psalm 118:24. Such a beautiful sunset this afternoon, pale wildfire embers of pink and orange and blue and lavender, softly burning across the skyline and up into the blue heavens. The sun was behind her vanilla colored clouds but peeked through long enough for Mother Nature to pick up her paint brushes and blush the horizon in penny hard candy colors, a pretty but subdued end to another wondrous day the Lord has made.

Had porch company this afternoon, an old friend from Carrollton stopped by and we enjoyed talking about our friends and our families, got caught up on her traveling and my porch pondering. After she left I cooked a delicious supper, a Chief supper I called it — meat loaf, fried green tomatoes fresh from the garden, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, cornbread, with a pint jar of sweet tea. Chief loved meatloaf and would make sandwiches with the leftovers. I’m stuffed and happy tonight. Today was a good day.

As I cooked supper I kept thinking of the phrase “we should all bloom where we are planted.” I thought that quote was from the Bible but it’s attributed to Saint Francies de Sales. His quote is, “Truly charity has no limit; for the love of God has been poured into our hearts by His Spirit dwelling in each one of us, calling us to a life of devotion and inviting us to bloom in the garden where He has planted and directing us to radiate the beauty and spread the fragrance of His Providence.”

We should all bloom where life plants us, spreading our love to others. This shortened version of “bloom where you are planted” should encourage us to be content with our life’s circumstances, to put down our roots with God’s grace and let our Christian faith bloom in our garden. Philippians 4:11 reads, “The Apostle Paul says to learn to be content no matter what your circumstances.”

We have to have faith to grow and flourish in some of life’s situations. We may not like the garden where God has planted us and one of the hardest life lessons is learning to grow and flourish despite difficult circumstances. God didn’t promise life would be easy and trials and tribulations in life give us greater appreciation for God and his grace. These moments of darkness lead us to God’s healing light.

God wants us to have deep roots of faith and to grow and share in our Christianity. He wants us to blossom with grace, being attentive and kind to those around us. He wants us to plant seeds of the holy gospel for others to harvest in their lives. Bible scripture in 1 Corinthians says, “ And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there.”

God has planted his love and light in our hearts but we have to nurture our gardens of faith with prayers and scripture reading. God wants us to spread his gospel as we bloom with faith. Proverbs 11:28 reads, “Whoever trust in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.” It takes time to grow and blossom with Christian faith but God will supply what ever we need if we put our faith and trust in him. Let God cultivate your garden of faith and you’ll have a bountiful harvest.

“Help us to be ever faithful gardeners of the spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, and without light nothing flowers.” —May Sarton