Bloom Where You Are Planted

Over the past couple of weeks, I have seen and heard a lot of tributes to Billy Graham, who passed away on February 21^st.  This post is not a tribute, but rather some observations and thoughts that God has been laying on my heart.

Many have been praising the man and others have been praising his work since he became a Christian over 80 years ago.  Some in our parents’ generation seem to have idolized Billy Graham.  My own mother has always spoken very highly of him and faithfully supported his ministry throughout the years since she first encountered his organization as a 19 or 20-year-old – when, on the heels of Graham’s record-breaking 8-week Los Angeles Crusade in 1949, she had the opportunity to sing a duet with his co-worker Grady Wilson at a follow-up crusade in Whittier where she lived.  Admittedly, from a human perspective, Billy Graham was a significant person who touched a lot of lives. 

But the interesting thing about those accolades is that Billy Graham would not have wanted any of them.  In a 1992 interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, he was asked what he hoped people would say about him when he died.  His response?  “I don’t want them to say big things about me because I don’t deserve them.  I want to hear one person say something nice about me, and that’s the Lord.  When I face him, I want him to say to me, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant’.  But I’m not sure I’m going to hear it . . .”  Billy Graham was clearly a humble man.

In our celebrity-driven culture (I was watching the Oscars before I started writing this!), we want to give glory to fellow humans who achieve something that we see as notable – things we don’t think we could do ourselves.  But the Bible teaches us to give glory only to God – and to assess ourselves with sober judgment, neither thinking too highly nor too lowly of ourselves – because God has given different gifts and different jobs to each of us here on earth (Romans 12:3-8).  We’re not all called to do the same things, and it is only God who brings success.  Apart from Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5) – and he calls each of us to use the gifts he’s given us and bloom where we are planted. 

Billy Graham was called by God and gifted by him to be a worldwide evangelist, but he didn’t set out to be famous.  What he brought to the table was proper motivation, integrity, and obedience.  As his son Franklin said at his memorial service, he was FAT – faithful, available, and teachable.  These are the same character traits that every one of us can choose to bring to our service for God.  Although millions heard Graham speak, he never saved any of them.  God saved people, and he used Billy Graham to get the message out. 

The book I wrote a few years ago will never be on the New York Times bestseller list, and this blog reaches a few dozen people each time I post something.  And, although I’ve spoken at a few women’s retreats, God hasn’t called me to be the next Beth Moore.  That’s OK – I like the anonymity!  But I can still choose to be faithful, available, and teachable – and to obediently use the gifts God’s given me.  I can bloom where I am planted and leave the results to God, remembering that there is really only an audience of one that I am seeking to please and who gets all the glory.  

What does God want to accomplish because you choose to be obedient with the gifts he’s given you in the place he’s planted you?