Bloom Where You're Planted

"Bloom where you're planted."  

Mary Engelbreit

Maybe I have the heart of a nomad.

I moved 13 times that I can remember--before I was 23 years old.  Maybe I am just not afraid to move.

Maybe I know that this world is temporary and so it's hard to feel at home anywhere.

Less than a month ago, my husband and I moved our family 1,280 miles to be near my family.  That wonderful man changed jobs, gave up some retirement, and spent quite a bit of money to bring me back home.

I lived in North Carolina for almost 13 years and now I'm back home in Oklahoma.

I wasted alot of time in North Carolina hoping for a possibility and wasting some of that present.

God forgive me.

Forgive me for squandering a million little gifts.  Beautiful days at the beach or in the cool of the mountains, mild winters and wisteria vines that covered acres of trees like a big, purple net.  Pine trees everywhere and tangy barbecue sauce that soaked into pulled pork leaving only red pepper and a tangy bite that goes perfectly with cole slaw.  Kudzu.  People, this Oklahoma girl had never seen anything like that before, vines like great, green ghosts covering entire miles.

Forgive me, too, for complaining when I finally got what I wanted.  Complaint is a dangerous thing.

Though I have been transplanted and though we are still in the throes of adaptation, I am making a choice.

I will bloom where I am planted.  This time I will bloom.

I will not compare the two lives I have lived.  I will miss old friends and continue to love them and I will leave this house and make more friends.  I will not get  my feelings hurt because I will choose to love here.

I will look for beautiful blooms that I haven't seen in 13 years.

I will make a life right here.

There are many beautiful things blooming already.  

One kid is at home at the local elementary school.  He is blooming.  This neighborhood just feels good.  The time I have had with family is precious, so is knowing it is not limited by miles anymore.  Old friends have come out of nowhere to help us.   I soak these things right up, and I bloom.

Who would have thought blooms came in the form of Braum's brownie fudge sundae and sweet barbecue beef brisket?  The constant breeze that is sometimes a hot wind and how everyone has a fenced yard because everyone seems to have a dog.  All the wonderful geographical names that come from the Native American language and make me smile because as yet I am the only one in my family that can pronounce them correctly.

My children will really know my family.  That may be the sweetest bloom of all.

The weight of what my husband did for me still surrounds me all heavy at times.  It is as powerful as the summer sun and I bloom.

It feels good to have roots in the dirt.  It feels good to bloom.

m

This post is the first in a month-long series where I get to go visit over at The Nesting Place.  This is quite an endeavor, a post every day for 31 days, but it is good to do hard things, right?  These posts, Bloom Where You're Planted, will be in the Inspiration & Faith category.  I am sure you will find lots of goodies there, enjoy!

Who am I? The story of the slidin' Chevy...

Last weekend I heard something I have never heard before and I don't know if I will ever forget it, though in some ways, I wish I could.

It was the sound of my family screaming as our car slid across the highway in the rain.  No kidding here today.

I was driving us home, my husband and three kids, and it started to rain.  We had a wonderful morning at the zoo, beautiful weather, the kids were so fun that day.  I started driving and so did the rain.  We joked because I hate to drive in the rain but after 25 years, you get over it.  It was a hard rain but not so hard that anyone would pull over.  Not five minutes later as we drove down the highway with about an hour and a half to go...

The bible teaches us that God's protection is real and should give us courage. (Numbers 14:9 NKJV)  That protection can be given and withdrawn.  It was surely with us that day...*

I felt it the second the physics operating under that car changed.  We were riding along in the right lane, listening to a book on CD and I felt it go wrong.  One second the wheels were on the highway, the next second there was a thin skin of water between the tires and the road.  You have all felt that feeling, turn into the skid, quick swerve and you correct.  This time the correction was useless as we continued to spin to the left.  I said my husband's name.  By this time the car was sideways in the left lane.  I had an overwhelming feeling of surprise that this was actually happening, really going to happen, whatever that meant and there was nothing that I could do about it...

The car kept spinning as we skidded onto the median which sloped sharply down.  My perception is that we had enough momentum to continue across the grass valley into oncoming traffic.  Instead, the back passenger side of the car, that's right, the back of the car hit a series of metal posts holding cables about 30 inches off the ground.  We skidded along the cables like we were magnetized, tearing bumpers, fenders, the gas tank lid, rearranging my husband's door so that it is jammed closed but has a 2 inch gap at the top and something tore the undercarriage stopping short of the gas tank.

The kids continued to scream as we sat in the median watching cars pass by our obvious wreck site.  It took a minute to realize that no one was hurt in spite of the floorboard under my son's feet, which was about six inches closer to him than normal.  No one was hurt in any way. We crossed a lane of traffic, turned more than 180 degrees, slid across the median, tore the car up and no one is hurt.  I am still dazed.

 "Who am I, O LORD God? And what is my house that You have brought me this far?"

My husband and I walk around with a different look in our eyes this week.  We reach out more often, try to teach the kids to be more gentle.  Who am I, O LORD God?  This was the reading that I unintentionally found waiting for me a day or two after the accident.  1 Chronicles 17:16 is David's cry after receiving a huge blessing. It is my cry too, after my huge blessing.

M

*Joshua said this when the Israelites were facing the monumental decision of whether or not to take the promised land, "...their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us..." Numbers 14:9 NKJV