Bloom Where You’re Planted

The dictionary defines happiness as the state of being happy. It then goes on to list synonyms like pleasure, satisfaction, joy, delight, and contentment. The most definitive aspect of happiness is that it motivates every human being to seek it out. This gives us a clue about the value of this state of being, and how important it is to having a positive human condition. It’s true that happiness can have meanings as varied as each individual, but the commonality is found in the reality that it is indeed a journey that all of us will undertake. We all want to be happy, and it matters greatly to God how we seek it out.

Everything has a root, a beginning from where it derives its purpose and reason for existing. Our Heavenly Father created human beings with enormous capacity, and one of our most profound elements is the ability to experience joy. God is the Source of everything, and most of us understand this. We should also understand that happiness is rooted in joy; it’s not the other way around.

Joy is an inside job. There are individuals that walk into a room and light it up simply with their presence. You might find yourself envious of people like this because you think they have something you don’t. The thing that these people possess is the knowledge about the wealth that God has planted within them through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He has made it possible for us to experience a joy that is everlasting, and this produces a happiness that isn’t dependent on conditions or circumstances.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) tells us, “22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Joy is one of the yummies that God gives us by way of Holy Spirit. This is an incredibly important truth, because many of us spend the spiritual journey of life searching for happiness in all the wrong places. Some of us try to force ourselves to be happy because we think that’s the right approach, but our Heavenly Father has clued us in on the truth. Joy is a spiritual fruit that is produced by the Holy Spirit. Looking outside of ourselves for something that can only be found within will not help us to reach our destination.

Being happy will also require us to accept another important truth. It is the reality that you and I are in the fruit producing business. Anything that does not grow will die, and in order to grow, we have to sow. Jesus Christ taught us this in Luke 6:38(NLT), where he gave us production instruction. He said, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” He’s teaching us here how to bloom where we’re planted.

Our happiness must be cultivated from within. Not only do we have the privilege and ability to sow it into the lives of others, but we can have an earnest expectation that when we do, it will be returned to us. It will be poured into our laps with the same loving, abundant heart of which we sowed. When you understand the magnitude of the gift that God has given you through Christ, and the empowerment that is attached to it, you will see yourself in a whole different light.

You don’t have to travel the world or move to a different town to change your life. Colossians 1:10(NLT) says that if we put on the knowledge of Christ in our minds and allow it to sink into our hearts, “Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” You’ve been empowered by God to bloom right where you are, so see yourself as someone who is blossoming into the fullness of all you’re destined to be. Happiness is anchored in the inner sanctum of your being! You can plant ‘happy’ seeds because through Christ the root of JOY is within you! Choose to sow seeds of happiness. Our Master guarantees they will grow!■

“Bloom Where You’re Planted” written by Fran, edited by PMB for Overcomingdomesticviolenceorg.wordpress.com. Copyright ©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

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