Growing Where You are Planted

We hired a landscaper who explained the installation of the sprinkler system, the topsoil he’ll use before putting down sod and how he plants shrubs. We expected him to say the shrubs would be planted in good fertilized soil, but no. He said, “If you put good soil around the plants they might grow faster, but when the roots reach the poor soil they go into shock. Plants establish themselves better when planted in the same dirt they will grow in.” As a mature believer I can look back and see that I grew stronger and more confident in faith simply because I had to grow where God planted me. Paul said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor 3:6-9 NIV).