Bloom Where You are Planted

The little Vinca

Ellie and I had just returned from a walk around the block when I noticed it.  A small little plant which had pushed it's way through a crack in the driveway.  It was a Vinca.  The spot where the plant took root was directly below where a hanging basket full of flowering pink Vincas had been for the summer.  Vinca, also called periwinkle, is a tough little plant.  It has shiny leaves and five-petal flowers that can be white, blue, purple or pink.  We grew it in our flower beds two years ago.  Since then I have seen little Vincas pop up here and there several times.  I also had one pop up in our flower bed this year about 15 feet from where they were last planted.  Its happy little face gave me so much joy, I just left it where it had decided to be planted.

These little plants are so encouraging to me.  They pop up wherever they can, they spread their pretty leaves and they bloom.  Sometimes they may show up on the edge of the garden or through a small crack in the concrete, but they bloom, even where they were not planted.

How I want to be like the little Vincas.  There are times we all find ourselves in some situation not of our own choosing.  Perhaps it is a difficult situation at work, or a health issue with which we are dealing.  Maybe its a limitation we wish we didn't have or something restricting other things we would rather be doing.  Whatever the concrete that covers our little plant, I pray we will all press toward the sun, reach our faces to the sky and bloom.  Our one little bloom may bring a smile to someone else's face, especially when we bloom through a crack in the concrete.

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life:  in Thy presence is fullness of joy; 

at Thy right hand there are pleasure for evermore."  

Psalm 16:11

The unplanted Vinca in the garden