I absolutely love my backyard. It’s large, with mature trees and a covered deck with Edison lights hanging from the crossbars. There are hammock chairs to relax and kick your feet back, and a fire pit to roast s’mores. We put in an above-ground pool, with tiki torches surrounding it. There’s also a gravel walkway lined with solar lights leading to a garden along the back fence. There are multiple flower beds, with amaryllis, lilies, and sunflowers. It’s truly an oasis in the hot Texas summers. Inevitably though, every spring, I have to fight the weeds. Even though there is a weed barrier under the gravel walkway, weeds still pop up all along the pathway and in the cracks of the porch. I have to spray them and pull them every spring.
Last week, I went out to the backyard to start pulling the weeds. However, some of the plants growing in the walkway didn’t look like weeds. I used Google Lens, and it told me that these plants were sunflowers. About 10 plants, not yet budded—just the green leaves stretching toward the sky. I debated about pulling them, but they were in the walkway—they didn’t belong there. They belonged in the flower bed about a foot or two away.
As I was pulling these sunflowers, I knew that if I left them there, they would grow into beautiful, yellow flowers. They would blossom and worship the sun. But they were not planted where they should have been. Which got me thinking—how many times have I planted myself where God did not want me to be?
It’s easy to justify staying where we are. Sometimes we grow in those places. Sometimes we even start to look like something good is coming from it. From the outside, it may not look wrong at all. But just because something has the potential to be good doesn’t mean it’s where we’re supposed to be.
God is very intentional about where He places us. In Acts 17:26, we are told that He “determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” That means where we are matters. It’s not random. It’s not accidental. There is purpose in placement.
When we plant ourselves somewhere outside of that purpose, we may still grow for a season, but eventually, something has to give. The roots don’t have the right depth. The environment isn’t right. And sooner or later, God will begin to move us.
And that part is rarely comfortable.
In John 15:2, Jesus says, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Whether it’s removing or pruning, the process involves cutting. It involves change. It involves letting go of something that may have seemed good at the time.
Pulling those sunflowers wasn’t difficult because they were weeds. It was difficult because they weren’t. They had the potential to be something beautiful. But they were in the wrong place, and if I left them there, they would have eventually interfered with what the walkway was meant to be.
The same is true for us. Sometimes God removes us from places that are not necessarily bad, but simply not where we belong. And when He does, it can feel confusing or even painful. We may not understand why something that seemed to be growing is suddenly being uprooted.
But God sees what we cannot.
He knows where we will flourish and where we will struggle. He knows what will take root and what will eventually wither. And because of that, He is willing to move us—even when it hurts.
In Psalm 92:13, we are told, “Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish.” Flourishing is tied to being planted in the right place. Not just growing—but growing where God intended.
Looking back, I could have left those sunflowers in the walkway. They probably would have grown for a while. But they would have been out of place, and eventually, they would have caused problems—for themselves and for everything around them.
Being planted in the wrong place doesn’t stop growth. It just guarantees that growth won’t last.
So when God begins to move us, even when it feels abrupt or painful, maybe it’s not punishment. Maybe it’s protection. Maybe it’s His way of placing us exactly where we were meant to be all along.
Comments
Post a Comment