NEWSFLASH: You're not actually blooming.
Yep, I said it.
I’m sure you’ve heard the quote by now “One day you will look back and see that all along you were blooming.” I have to disagree with this statement. We typically use it as an anchor during tough, or stagnant times. I think it’s equally important to recognize that we could very well be going through our season of cultivation, which does not necessarily equate to flourishing or blooming.
I’m a words person, so I tend to look at definitions and origins to help me understand how to use my words to speak to myself and others. We’ll look at two words: Cultivate and Bloom
BLOOM
/bloom/
To produce flowers
CULTIVATE
/’kelte,vat/
To prepare and use land for gardening
“We must cultivate, or prepare, before we can claim that we are blooming.”
You’ll notice that when something is blooming, or in bloom - it is in a state of production. Meaning, that there is something to show for that particular stage of the process. Often times we try to tell ourselves that we are blooming when we are NOT seeing results. We are recognizing that to flourish and produce something of high quality, we must go through a process. However, our steps might be out of order. We must cultivate, or prepare, before we can claim that we are blooming.
I’ll use myself for an example. At the top of this year, i would have told you that 2018 was going to be my fruit bearing season. After 3, 6, now 10 months into this year, I would say that I have not produced any fruit. From the outside looking in, it feels as if I have been spiritually stagnant. I set out to study each of the fruit of the spirit and put together a practical plan to bear each one of these respective fruit. Let’s just say that I am far from this goal.
This year has been a true test of the foundation of my faith. The Holy Spirit has tilled my soul. He has broken up my spiritual soil to reveal a fresh heart, ready and willing to receive the seeds of the fruit of the spirit. There were times where I felt inadequate, incapable and unworthy to be responsible for the blessings that God was sending my way. I wanted more than anything to run from them and leave the responsibility to someone older or more experienced. But I stayed. And I prayed.
I prayed that God would give me the humble confidence to rely on the holy spirit to carry me through this season of my life. And during this time I was telling myself that I was blooming and that one day I would look up and I would be flourishing. As if a garden goes from being completely barren to being filled with thriving flowers. No. That’s not how it works. So I’ve accepted the fact that 2018 was a year of preparation. I’ve accepted that 2019 very well might be the same and that I’m not in control of when I bloom. But what I do know is this, that when I blossom - it will be overtly evident to anyone that I come in contact with, that the spirit is in full bloom within my soul.
MY PRAYER FOR YOU…
My prayer for you is this, that you would recognize when the holy spirit is preparing you for your season of bloom. I pray that you will accept the cultivation as a necessary part of the process. I pray that you are reminded that God is always working on you and he has you exactly where he needs you in order to impact his kingdom the way that he created you to. Don’t run from the blessings he sends your way because you lack the credentials or the know-how. Be humbly confident in the power of the holy spirit and trust that where you are incapable, he is capable beyond measure.
Yours in progress,
Anisa Naomi