Bloom Where You're Planted!

In an effort to be cordial, I asked a certain young man how he 
was doing one day.  Instead of hearing the common curt response 
of "Fine," he said, "I feel like I have dug myself in a hole."  

My response to him was, "The only place you start out on top is 
when you are digging a hole!"  Immediately he retorted, 
"I didn't think I was digging a hole; I thought I was laying a 
foundation!"  

Well, the truth of the matter is that everything is a matter of 
perception.  Your outlook determines your outcome!  

It's better to be in a hole than in a rut.  

A rut is simply a grave with both ends kicked out!  The hole 
that this young man dug for himself was his foundation. 

This is a process of life.  

You lose before you gain.  

You give before you get.  

You follow before you lead. 

You establish a solid foundation before you build.  

Before a farmer sows his fields, he first digs holes.  

Every beautiful flower starts out as a seed in a hole.  

Every fruit-bearing tree gets its start in a hole.  

Most of us are in a hole of debt before we can graduate from 
college, but we don't have to stay there!  

While digging a hole is dirty work and frustrating at times, 
it is necessary.  Thomas Edison aptly stated, "Restlessness and 
discontent are the first necessities of progress."  

So although being in a hole is confining and irritating, 
just hang on and learn to bloom where you are planted!  

A pearl is formed in an oyster because of an irritant that 
enters.  That irritant causes a secretion to be released, which 
actually forms the pearl.  So, while you are irritated, realize 
that a valuable pearl is being formed deep within you.  

Just keep your mouth closed, and bloom where you are planted! 

Courtesy: Bishop Dale C. Bronner, D. Min.