Spring is well underway here in Tucson. The saguaros are blooming, along with so many other plants. I don’t yet know the names for some of them—but that doesn’t keep them from blossoming nonetheless!
Children are blossoming also. A friend of ours is a fourth grade teacher who uses every tool at his disposal to encourage and challenge children to stretch themselves, to take risks and grow. Last Wednesday we went to see his class perform The Secret Garden. He felt it was a particularly appropriate play for the children, so many of whom are having to learn how to move beyond the painful lessons that life has already handed them. I was honored to watch these children perform, in large parts and small, with eagerness and trepidation, perfectly and imperfectly.
We are all like that, you see. We all have painful lessons that life throws at us. We all perform both perfectly and imperfectly within the large and small roles of our lives. The question is whether we will take the risk of blossoming. So many times I have been afraid of risking failure, rejection, imperfection, and have not taken the risks. That is part of why it’s so important now to keep taking those risks, keep putting my work out there. To trust that God, and others, are supporting my blooming efforts because they need the fruits which will follow.
The other reason I believe it’s so important for me to keep putting my work out there, taking risks, is that we were all made to blossom. We all have beautiful gifts to share, and we are genetically programmed by our Creator to blossom in our own unique ways. If we hide our light under a bowl, as Jesus admonished in Matthew 5:14—16, our light does others, and the world, no good. This is why our friend is compelled to teach, and I am compelled to write, and share the flowers and fruit of my pondering, here on this blog, on retreats, in Embodied Prayer, and other places as well.
So how are you being called to blossom? What role models do you have for blossoming in your own life? What steps might you need to take that look like removing the bowl and letting your light shine? What support do you need in order to blossom?
