This bush looks perfectly acceptable unless you know what its capabilities are.
I have the honor of dog sitting for my parents this week. They have two little fluff balls that require leash walking several times a day. While I was walking them over the weekend, we ended up at a raised bed my hubby made for me. In it, he had planted a hydrangea.
It was a gift from a parent at the end of school year. We were still building our deck at the time and I wasn’t sure where to plant it and so he put it there for the time being. To the casual observer, it looks really good. It’s healthy. It has grown a lot. It came in a tiny cup. It’s green. It survived a very dry late summer.
But, I’m not a casual observer. The wonderful thing about hydrangeas is their huge flowers and this one never bloomed. It could be because it was the first year it was planted. Sometimes it takes a year for a bush to get established before it blooms.
But, I suspect the real reason is that it doesn’t get enough sun in that spot and without enough sun, it simply can’t bloom.
I reflected on that hydrangea long after the little fluff balls were safely back in the house.
I thought about how like that hydrangea, there are times on our faith journey when we don’t bloom. I thought about how sometimes we may be getting established. We may be new to our faith, or we may be in a season of a new calling, or a season of rest where we find ourselves at a crossroads of sorts.
There are times when not producing blooms is certainly expected. God may simply be working something out within us.
But, sometimes we don’t bloom because we are not seeking Jesus. We aren’t actively reading the Bible. We aren’t actively seeking a prayer relationship with God. We aren’t attending church or engaging in Christian community. We may not be getting enough of the Son.
In that case, we need to make some changes. We are called to do more than just get by. We are called to reflect the brilliance of Christ back into the world. We can’t do that if we don’t have a close personal relationship with Him.
We are called to bloom.
A hydrangea bush reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂