Built Like Bamboo
The title probably doesn't make sense yet, but just flow with me. My entire life I felt as though I was a flower. Flowers need water and sunlight to grow. Lord knows I have had my share of rainy days and sunny days, so I was content with being a flower. Recently I began to question God. I expected for things in my life to take off in a positive swing way quicker than the speed God was using. I found myself looking up to Heaven like "God, I know You playing!" (Yes, I have a very informal way of talking to God, but He still loves me… judge ya mama, not me!) But look at it from my perspective. When I was younger I was supposed to be happily married with a whole home and 2.5 kids by the age of 25. I was planning to sprout up in all my majestic, floral beauty! Like they always say, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. And thank goodness God has a sense of humor. If things went down my way I would not be nearly as happy as I am right now. It was not until I did some reflection on my evolution in these past few years that I understood why God chooses to do what He does in my life. I was trying to be a flower and God has been setting me up to be bamboo. For those who may not know Chinese bamboo has an interesting growth cycle. The seed sits underground and for YEARS (sometimes around four or five, but sometimes even longer than that) nothing happens above ground for the eye to see. During that time the seed must be watered and fertilized regularly. This is not unlike those of us who are in a bamboo season. We feel as though we have been buried in constant rain and fertilizer (aka manure aka sh*t), but God is taking every drop of water and every speckle of dirt and using them to cultivate us. Every situation He has placed you in is for you to develop further into who He destined for you to become. Let's take a minute to perspectivize (don't bother looking it up it isn't in the dictionary...yet... but it means to see things from an alternative perspective) here, we only see what is happening around us, we see the cold and the darkness. But if we take a minute and think about who God is and what He has promised us it makes the dirt a little less dirty. God promises that He has a plan for each of us. And that plan is to prosper us and to give us hope for a future. The seed going in the ground is the activation God needs to signal we are ready for the cultivation process to begin. We are underground in the cold, dark dirt alone while God allows tragedy and calamity to strike. But there is good news here…
Just like the bamboo will one day rise from the dirt and sprout into a fruitful plant, as will you Beauty. This time of being underground is time for you to spend with God, so that He can cultivate Himself within you through the rain and fertilizer. He knows what lies ahead of you once you begin to sprout above ground. He wants to make sure your roots are firmly planted so that no matter what comes your way you will not be moved. Use this time wisely Beauty because once God releases you to elevate above ground your growth may happen exponentially.