In some ways we are all just prisoners, looking, hoping, seeking. Our hearts crave a purpose, something to cause life to course through it.
Yet distractions kill our potential and purpose. These bars around us are what stops our hearts from beating and our souls from thriving. The chilled iron finds its way into our shaky breaths as it gently chokes whatever flower is trying to grow roots. For how can a flower thrive when it’s roots are formed and molded by the fear that has overtaken your heart?
The four walls surrounding us have convinced us that the light will never break through, the door will never swing open inviting love to return once again. The distractions and lies whisper to our hearts that it is okay to not be fully present. They entangle us in their vines of comparison and cause us to believe that we aren’t worthy of a life that is captivated with purpose.
Yet what we so often don’t realize is that those chains around our feet are powerless, lifeless and weightless. It’s time to open our eyes and to let hope land.
You are a prisoner to your own unkind ways, a slave to insecurities and paralyzed by fear. Yet God died a prisoners death in your place because your scars don’t scare him.
In fact some of the most beautiful flowers find their home amongst the soil that was fertilized by the pain in our lives. For God takes our scars and breathes life into them.
Scars that were once hidden behind the four walls of a prison, are now the platform for your testimony. Set free in order to truly thrive in love.
It’s time to bloom where you are planted. To choose to grow roots and to watch what happens when you start living your life fully present.
For so long I have allowed myself to be half hearted in my devotion to being fully present. I made excuses as I floated around like a butterfly from one thing to the next. In many ways I’ve been running from committing to being fully invested in my job and the people around me. Yet what I didn’t realize is I’ve been letting my fears and insecurities hold me back from being fully present where I’m at.
Yet lately I’ve been realizing how much God’s love invites is to stay, to grow roots. He invites us to a life that is one of abundance and filled with beauty. His love is to great to let chaos persistently demand a place in our hearts, his voice calms the sea within and causes the flowers within us to bloom.
If only we have the courage to bloom right here and right now. It’s time to stop waiting for the perfect conditions and opportunities. Open your eyes and take it all in. Breathe in the color of the sunrise as it beckons you to wake up , sit and enjoy talking to a small kid as you treat them like the most important person on earth. Don’t forget to notice the spark that is ignited from holding hands with somebody you love, or the way your heart comes to life when the sun is shining down reminding you spring is coming.
Bloom here and now, fully present and committed to thriving where you are at. Don’t let life pass by without appreciating the beauty surrounding you and the miracle of having a heart that is made to feel alive. Open up your hands to receive God’s love and peace, letting the flowers within your heart bloom. 
Rose and Thorn 