Today is a special day for our family. It's my brother's 21st birthday. Although this blog is primarily for women, this thought is for both men and women. It is a monumental moment in that he is the last of my siblings to become and "adult". With adulthood comes a certain level of responsibility. However as a kid you don't know what that will be until you get there. Everyone's experience is slightly different and takes turns and detours that future generations can't always predict.
For my family it represents us continuing our life journey after the death of our mom (in January). It was very challenging for me to get through my kids birthday, my husband, my own, then Mother's Day, and my mother's birthday/ anniversary (all in close proximity). But what I realize is that life definitely goes on and no matter how tough the situation, you have to make the best of it. I realize in this season of my life I a have been tried, tested, failed, and had to recalibrate life decisions along the way. What is not; is a place I want to stay in, a place where I want to lay down and die, but I place I need to quickly find the nearest detour to avoid the majority of mental discomfort and frustration.
Bloom where you are planted.I think about the life cycle of a plant, specifically a cactus. It sprouts and develops under the most extreme heat, lack of resources (water), and in nutrient depleted soil (sand). Yet over time it grows, matures, blooms flowers that attracts insects and birds for pollination, and stands sturdy. It's defense system, painfully sharp needles (sometimes poisonous) ward off rodents that would attempt to eat away at its stem or root system. Even when a cactus dies it still stands there- its presence remains. In some cases it looks as though it is still alive because they don't experience the the normal withering away.
So in short- God has strategically placed you in areas and under circumstances, to bloom, grow,and produce, where it success is highly unusual.