Every year, my dad plants sunflowers in a field in front of my house. When they all begin to bloom, the entire field is bright yellow and full of sunflowers of all sizes. The other day, I noticed that a sunflower was blooming right in front of the barn, about 100 yards away from the field of all the other sunflowers. A seed must have fallen out of the planter while my dad was on his way to the field. I thought to myself, "How cool. That sunflower doesn't care that it wasn't planted with all the others in the nice rich soil. It's just being beautiful regardless." But then I really thought about how, as Christians, God calls us to do the same thing.
We're never going to be in an absolutely perfect condition in life. Unfortunately, life in this world is full of imperfections and uncertainties. However, this doesn't mean we can't grow in Christ and bloom wherever we are planted. While this world is uncertain and imperfect, we can find both certainty and perfection in Christ and trust that wherever He has placed us is exactly where he wants us to be and we should make the most of wherever that is.
I tend to always think, "When I get to that point in my life, I'll be a better Christian and I'll really let Christ shine through me" (Whether it be graduating college, starting a new job, getting married, etc.). But the truth of the matter is this: God called us to be the best Christians we can be wherever we are in life. Just as that lone seed grew and bloomed into a beautiful sunflower despite its difficult conditions, we too should thrive in Christ regardless of where He has planted us. 1 Corinthians 7:17 reads, “Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them”. I love how this verse leaves no room for exceptions by using "whatever situation". No place is a bad place to grow in Christ. In fact, it's often times in those bad situations that we grow most in Christ.
Ephesians gives insight to the type of growth God has in mind for us. Ephesians 4:15 says, "We will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church." I know that I personally take many days for granted when, in reality, I should wake up looking at every day as an opportunity to grow into a person who is more and more like Christ, sharing the goodness of the gospel in a loving manner.
After reflecting on these verses and learning from the sunflower, I try to start every day with this prayer: "Lord help me to grow in you wherever you have me planted today. Help me to have the mindset that I can grow in you and let your light shine through me no matter where I may be."
