“I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine
There’s gotta be a little rain some time”

How are you supposed to go into the next season of your life if you do not know who you are?

All this stressing about the next thing means nothing if you are not preparing to grow into the person able to handle whatever is coming in the next chapter of your life.

As someone once told me, “If I’m stressing I’m not praying….and if I’m praying I’m not stressing.”

What’s for you is for you.  Life is happening now.  It’s not in the next thing.  Life is today.  God is the same God today as you will be asking for tomorrow and who delivered you from your yesterday.  It’s so easy for that devil to sneak in and remind you of the things you don’t have, the place you’re not in yet, and the life you are missing out on because you’re not trying hard enough.

Bloom where you are planted.

I planted a garden (in pots) which I have a post coming soon about, but today’s post is dedicated to my gardenia.

Let’s get this said quickly: I know nothing about plants.

Well, I didn’t.  I’m rapidly learning a lot.

This gardenia was my problem child.  The reason I even have a gardenia is because I actually went to the store for a geranium and forgot the name and thought, “This starts with a g”.  They are not the same.  I realized my error as I was walking out of the store, but figured I would just add a lovely addition to the backyard.

With that said, this plant obviously knew my thoughts.  “She didn’t want me” so it refused to bloom.  It started acting like it was abandoned.  IT MADE ME PAY ATTENTION TO IT.

It would not bloom.  It does not like the all purpose plant food I have.  It was losing it’s rich green color and turning light green/yellow.  The leaves were falling off.  After some research I learned about different plants and that some like more acidic soil than others.  The all purpose food I have puts out nitrogen which promotes growth and is great, but doesn’t have the right things for ALL plants.  False advertising?  “All purpose except…  “The new “acidic” friendly food has more iron and phosphate which produces the blooms.  (I am not a scientist or professional gardener so please be gentle if you have opinions or facts.)  I also read it did not like all the water I was giving.  (Insert eye roll)  After getting learned I hurried to buy the correct kind of plant food, stopped drowning it, and added coffee grounds (which helps to lower ph).  I also walked across the highway with a yard stake (AKA a weapon I could’ve fell and impaled myself with) for my hummingbird feeder as well as the plant food, but that’s another story.

THE GARDENIA.

I didn’t know anything about how to take care of it and only bought it out of ignorance…. kind of.  I planted it and assumed it would require the same effort as my other plants that are much less maintenance.  You can only imagine the equation of my lack of knowledge about plants and this one refusing to cooperate that there may have been some anguish on the inside.  Had it not been for this gardenia and my desire for it to prosper and remain alive I would not have learned about different soils and plants for the future.

LOVE IS PATIENT…

I waited.  And waited.  AND WAITED for this thing to bloom.

LOVE IS KIND…

I prayed over it.   “PLEASE, BLOOM.  You’re doing so great!  You’re going to be beautiful!  I know you can do it!”

I waited for what feels like forever (over a month?) when FINALLY a bloom.

LOVE NEVER FAILS…

I love all of my flowers and enjoy sitting outside and watching them all grow, but THIS GARDENIA, my problem child, with its bloom brought SO MUCH EXCITEMENT and is so appreciated now because of the extra tender care it needed.  Learning how to take care of its issues gave a much needed lesson.  Not everything can be solved with the same equation.  Now we are friends and there are several blooms that smell absolutely wonderful.

Joy is in the journey… not the destination.

Like the gardenia so is it with God…

He says to ‘study and show yourself approved’.  How will we know what He wants from us if we do not spend the time to get to know Him?  How will we know Him if we do not know what He says?

Everyone assumes to know God and everyone has a god, but they are not always the one true God of the bible.  The only way to know Him is to spend time with Him and He will show what He wants from you.

He wants you to prosper just as your soul prospers… (3 John)

“I WILL GREATLY REJOICE IN THE LORD, MY SOUL SHALL BE JOYFUL IN MY GOD; FOR HE HATH CLOTHED ME WITH THE GARMENTS OF SALVATION, HE HATH COVERED ME WITH THE ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AS A BRIDEGROOM DECKETH HIMSELF WITH ORNAMENTS, AND AS A BRIDE ADORNETH HERSELF WITH HER JEWELS.  

FOR AS THE EARTH BRINGETH FORTH HER BUD, AND AS THE GARDEN CAUSETH THE THINGS THAT ARE SOWN IN IT TO SPRING FORTH; SO THE LORD GOD WILL CAUSE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PRAISE TO SPRING FORTH BEFORE ALL THE NATIONS.” – ISAIAH 61:10-11