Image by Melissa Clayton
This is THE #1 motto, heart song, mantra of every military spouse —
Bloom where you’re planted.
It’s what gets us through deployments, separations, cross-country moves, overseas moves, too many moves in 4 years, all kinds of moves.
It’s what keeps us reaching out to fellow military wives — strangers, but sisters in this emotionally-taxing journey — and clinging to each other for much-needed support.
And best of all, it’s what keeps us making the best out of any — and every — situation we’re thrown in.
From San Diego to Twenty-NIne Palms to Okinawa to Pensacola to Cherry Point. Different climates, different cultures, different communities, different housing.
Bloom where you’re planted.
Being a milspouse of six years, I knew this when we got stationed in the desert. But a year later, I still found myself still saying, “Oh, we’re not from here, we’re from San Diego.”
See, the thing with military life is, we tend to see our current duty station as a temporary move.
Even though the typical set of orders is for 2-3 years, mentally, we’re always living in the past or the next move, the next deployment, the next tour.
Maybe you’re not a military wife and have been blessed to have lived in your home for 10 years, but everyone at one point or another has lived mentally and emotionally in the past.
My heart belonged in San Diego. But the reality is - the PRESENT is - we have a beautiful home that we bought when we moved in Arizona. God provided for that. And I should be thankful! I am - very, very much.
God also opened doors for us there that when my husband’s contract ends in June, we have a place that’s OURS and a means to provide for our family.
Living in the past emotionally is easy when you’re experiencing a season of a dry, empty desert. All my spoiled little heart wants is to frolic along the beaches of La Jolla, where everything is blue skies + gorgeous.
But life isn’t always going to be blue skies + gorgeous. Sometimes God will uproot us out of our comfort zones and plant us right in the middle of the desert where we’re uncomfortable and we’re forced to reach out.
Maybe your desert looks a little different than the typical military life of stressful moves + deployments.
Maybe your desert is a lifeless marriage that’s barren of fruit and gorgeous blue skies you once walked under together.
Maybe your desert is shame + guilt for whatever mistakes you may have made as a sister, daughter, mother, friend, etc.
Instead of shriveling up to die, bloom where you’re planted.
The apostle Paul learned to be content in whatever state. Don’t mistake this for complacency, but rather, a call to action.
Bloom where you’re planted — make the best out of every situation.
Reach out to your spouse, friend, daughter, etc. and breathe life into your marriage and relationships.
This Lenten season, leave the past in the past. Live where you live. Don’t get so caught up in the past or the future that you miss the miracles in your desert.
The most beautiful miracles happen when the works of our loving God are magnified out of nothing, out of the barrenness of our lives.
Peace be with you, my gorgeous faithful sister.
