Bloom Where You Are Planted

Sara sent me a Halloween package last week. Included in its contents were some Slim Jims, Peppermint Patties, Oreos, and Halloween lego decorations. The real treasure, however, want outside of the box. She wrote little phrases on the box that she creatively decorated. One of those phrases was "Bloom where you are planted." At first, I thought little about it. But when I emptied the contents of a USPS box that I was using for storage into this box to keep, I placed it in my closet. The side of the box with that phrase faced out, causing me to see it every morning and every evening on multiple occasions.

Why am I sharing this? Because every time I looked at the box, the phrase stuck out to me more and more. I have no idea why Sara wrote it, but I started thinking about the words. It motivated me. I realized that too often in our lives, mine in particular, we want to wait for the perfect set of circumstances to be our best selves. Instead, why don't we bloom where we're planted? I used that to motivate me onward during the week and it paid off.

Each morning it reminded me to be a little bolder as a missionary. It reminded me to put in my full effort even when it didn't seem necessary so that I could reap the blessings of missionary work. As I did so, I began to see our struggling area turn around. In one week, we went from one person with a baptismal date to three. We went from four lessons taught to ten. It was a great week. Why? Well, because I learned an important lesson. Bloom where you are planted.

I'm grateful for little treasures of knowledge like these. The scriptures are full of these. What I'm learning, however, is that as we study and learn the scriptures more fully, we will find those same little treasures of knowledge all around us. As D&C 88: 41 says:

"He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by him, and of him, even God, forever and ever."

If we take the time to slow our lives down and focus on the Savior...we will begin to see that He is in all things and all things are by him and of him. I'm grateful for that little treasure of knowledge that was gained this week thanks to a thoughtful girlfriend who probably didn't even know what impact those five words would have.

Elder Bolling