Bloom
A devotional by Wade Webster
The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel.”
–Ruth 4:14 (NIV)
–Ruth 4:14 (NIV)
In April I told you about my desire to help people cope with their isolation during this COVID-19 pandemic by posting pictures of wildflowers on Facebook. It began in late March when I drove to south Texas. I thought I would finish this task at the end of April. Many of my friends voiced disappointment when I posted that I would be ending this series. Then I found new flowers blooming. This kept me going into mid-May.
My job as a truck driver was deemed essential by the government so I was able to get out and about to take these pictures. About the time I thought I would run out of new flowers to post, I would be sent to a new area that had fresh flowers or new flowers would sprout up in some of the spots I had been to previously. I was disappointed many times when there was no safe place for me to pull over to take pictures of all of the flowers I was seeing.
When I did pull over to take a picture of what I could see from my driver's seat I was always surprised. Many smaller flowers awaited me. Flowers that I couldn't see while scanning the bigger landscape. Oftentimes these were more beautiful than the first blooms I desired.
One day I had to wait for my load to be produced so I paced behind the factory. It's a large area closed in by high walls. The loaded trailers are staged here until us drivers are ready to leave. As I walked about I saw an interesting occurrence. The concrete surface I was on had cracks designed throughout to allow for expansion and contraction of the cement during temperature extremes. Out of these cracks grew what most folks would call worthless weeds. What I saw was a new variety of flowers yearning for their time in the spotlight.
I titled that day's pictorial “Bloom Wherever You're Planted.” Many people were inspired by those tiny flowers growing out of seemingly impossible terrain. God blew their seeds there to show that He can use anything anywhere He chooses to.
It makes me think of the book of Ruth and how God helped her “bloom.” She married into a Hebrew family that was vastly different than her Moab lifestyle. There was something about these foreigners that drew her into them. So much so that she swore allegiance to Naomi's God as they moved to her mother-in-law's homeland.
Waiting for them was a man named Boaz, whose mother was born in Jericho according to Matthew 1:5. Boaz apparently never married but was farming the land near Naomi's former home. In a way only God could orchestrate, these two misfits come together while harvesting grain. They use the rights of the kinsman-redeemer to form a legal bond and create a son. In this son's family line would come the greatest king the nation of Israel would ever know, apart from The King, Jesus Christ.
Rahab's son and Naomi's daughter-in-law made the grandfather of King David. Only God could bring such a story together.
I don't know what terrain you find yourself planted in today. I also can't see what chapter of your life is being written at this moment. But I can assure you it is in God's will. He has a plan for every aspect of what's happening. God can make beauty bloom out of the hard places and tough terrains of life.
Bloom wherever you are planted today. Trust Him to bring it all together in His time.
~*~
Author Bio:
Wade Webster is a farm boy turned city slicker, heathen turned born-again Christian, truck driver turned writer doing his best to point folks to his best friend, Jesus Christ.
He currently lives in Plano, Texas.
Wade is the author of 100 Prayers of a Writer, a book that didn't begin as a book, just weekly prayers to a group of writer friends.
He enjoys spending time in nature, running for exercise and dark chocolate, though not necessarily in that order. Apart from driving 18-wheelers for a living he has a part-time job painting houses on the side...and the front and back and inside.
As a teenager, he told his friends he never wanted to be considered normal. So far he's done a pretty good job of living up to that aspiration.
He currently lives in Plano, Texas.
Wade is the author of 100 Prayers of a Writer, a book that didn't begin as a book, just weekly prayers to a group of writer friends.
He enjoys spending time in nature, running for exercise and dark chocolate, though not necessarily in that order. Apart from driving 18-wheelers for a living he has a part-time job painting houses on the side...and the front and back and inside.
As a teenager, he told his friends he never wanted to be considered normal. So far he's done a pretty good job of living up to that aspiration.
