Bloom Where You're Planted!

JOYPEACE

============================ In an effort to be cordial, I asked a certain young man how he was doing one day. Instead of hearing the common curt response of "Fine," he said, "I feel like I have dug myself in a hole." My response to him was, "The only place you start out on top is when you are digging a hole!" Immediately he retorted, "I didn't think I was digging a hole; I thought I was laying a foundation!" Well, the truth of the matter is that everything is a matter of perception. Your outlook determines your outcome! It's better to be in a hole than in a rut. A rut is simply a grave with both ends kicked out! The hole that this young man dug for himself was his foundation. This is a process of life. You lose before you gain. You give before you get. You follow before you lead. You establish a solid foundation before you build. Before a farmer sows his fields, he first digs holes. Every beautiful flower starts out as a seed in a hole. Every fruit-bearing tree gets its start in a hole. Most of us are in a hole of debt before we can graduate from college, but we don't have to stay there! While digging a hole is dirty work and frustrating at times, it is necessary. Thomas Edison aptly stated, "Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress." So although being in a hole is confining and irritating, just hang on and learn to bloom where you are planted! A pearl is formed in an oyster because of an irritant that enters. That irritant causes a secretion to be released, which actually forms the pearl. So, while you are irritated, realize that a valuable pearl is being formed deep within you. Just keep your mouth closed, and bloom where you are planted! Bishop Dale C. Bronner, D. Min.