JEREMIAH 29:1-7

29:1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem.

3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:

4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.

6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.

7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 

9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.

Bloom where you’re planted. Are you familiar with that saying?  I heard it for the first time this past week.  Bloom where you’re planted.  It basically means that you can be happy no matter where you are an no matter what may be happening around you.

Take, for example, the two men who were sailing across the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, they got caught in a terrible storm and ended up getting shipwrecked on a deserted island.  When that happened, the first man was beside himself with despair.  “We’re doomed,” he said.  “We’re doomed.  We’re going to spend the rest of our lives on this miserable god-forsaken island.”  The second man, however, wasn’t at all concerned.  “Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before they find us.”  The first man couldn’t believe it.  “How can you say that?” he asked.  “We’re a thousand miles from civilization and no one knows we’re here.”  “Don’t worry,” the second man said again.  “I make $100,000 a month.  They’ll find us.”  “What difference does that make?” the first man asked.  “You don’t understand,” the second man said. “I make $100,000 a month and I give ten percent of that to my church every month.  My minister will find me.”

Bloom where you’re planted. Happiness doesn’t depend on where you are or what’s going on around you.  The key to happiness is your attitude toward where you are and what’s going on around you.   That was the message that God had for the Jewish people.  That message came through loud and clear in a letter that God told Jeremiah to send to the Jewish people while they were in exile.  This is what Jeremiah wrote in the letter,  “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.  Take wives and have sons and daughters….multiply there, and do not decrease.  But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

In other words bloom where you’re planted.  Yes.  It’s true that your armies were defeated.  Yes. It’s true that the Babylonians burned Jerusalem to the ground and ransacked the Temple.  Yes. It’s true that you’re now living in exile in a foreign land but that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. So, build new homes and plant new gardens.  Celebrate weddings and have children.  Bloom where you’re planted.

Happiness doesn’t depend on where you are or what’s going on around you. 

The key to happiness is your attitude toward where you are and what’s going on around you.   That was the message that God told Jeremiah to send to the Jewish people while the were in exile.   You’ll find that same message that Viktor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search For Meaning.”   Viktor Frankl wrote that book after experiencing another tragedy in the life of the Jewish people.   Viktor Frankl was one of the millions of Jews who spent some time in the concentration camps during World War II.  He lost his wife and his children and his parents.  He lost his house and all of his possessions.  When he was arrested he was ordered to take off all his clothes.  Then as he stood there totally naked they cut off his wedding ring.  While they were doing that Viktor Frankl said to himself, “You can take away my wife, you can take away my children, you can strip me of my clothes and my freedom, but there is one thing no person can ever take away from me – and that is my freedom to choose how I will react to what happens to me!”

Bloom where you’re planted. It sounds simple but it can be hard to do. That’s because you and I have been conditioned by Madison Avenue and society at large to think that happiness will only be found in what I call the Three Big P’s.   Happiness will only be found in possessions, pleasure and a pain free life. What that means in practical terms is simple.  According to Madison Avenue and society at large happiness is buying a snazzy new car and if you don’t have a snazzy new car or your snazzy new car gets totaled in an accident you can’t be happy.

Happiness is a pill that makes all your aches and pains go away and if there isn’t a pill to make all the aches and pains go away then you can’t be happy.   That’s why it’s hard sometimes to be happy as you get older.   As you get older the aches and pains don’t go away.  So you can’t be happy. That’s especially true if, heaven forbid, you end up in a nursing home.   Here’s the thing though.  I’ve been a minister now for almost 29 years and during that time I’ve seen some people go to a nursing home and end up being miserable.  On the other hand I’ve seen some people go to a nursing home and end up being happy.   The difference isn’t in the nursing home.  The difference isn’t in the aches and pains.  The difference is in the person’s attitude.  Bloom where you’re planted.

Robert Louis Stevenson knew what that kind of happiness is all about.  A lot of people have read his books which include,  “Treasure Island” and “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde.” What a lot of people don’t know is that he contracted tuberculosis when he was young and because of that he was bed ridden for much of his life.   One day, his wife heard him hacking and coughing loudly. She said to him, “I suppose you still believe it is a wonderful day.”  Turning toward a window that was ablaze with sunlight, Stevenson responded, “I do! I will never let a row of medicine bottles block my horizon.”

Bloom where you’re planted.  So, you’re living in exile in Babylon.  That doesn’t mean you can’t be happy.  So, you can’t see or hear or walk as well as you did years ago.  That doesn’t mean you can’t be happy.   Yes, it’s true that the economy stinks and the politicians are throwing mud at each other and there are terrorists who would love to kill innocent people.  That doesn’t mean you can’t be happy.

You have a choice.  You can pine away for the good old days and you whine about what may or may not happen tomorrow.  Or you can bloom where you’re planted.  You’ll be able to do that if you have the right attitude and here’s something else that’s important.  You’ll be able to do that if you have a good relationship with good.  If you work on your faith and have a faith that is strong you’ll be happier because you’ll know that after everything is said and done God’s love will have the final word.  It’s like the Apostle Paul says in his Letter to the Romans:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   (8:25, 37-39)

In his book “Living Life On Purpose” Greg Anderson tells a story about a man whose wife left him.  Because of that he was depressed. He’d lost faith in himself, in other people and most important of all he’d lost faith in God.  One rainy morning the man went to a small neighborhood dinner for breakfast. There were several people at the counter, but they weren’t speaking to each other.  The man sat there hunched over the counter stirring his coffee with a spoon and feeling sorry for himself.  In one of the nearby booths a young mother was having breakfast with her daughter.   When the waitress brought them their food the little girl broke the sad silence.  “Momma,” she said, “why don’t we say our prayers here?”  When the waitress hear that she turned around and said, “Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?”  She then turned to the other people in the restaurant and said, “Bow your heads.”  Surprisingly, the heads went down, one by one.  The little girl then bowed her head, and said, “God is great.  God is good and we thank him for our food. Amen.”  Well, the little girl’s prayer changed the atmosphere in the diner.  People began to talk to each other.  The waitress said, “we should do that every morning.”  And the man whose wife had just left him?  “All of a sudden,” he said, “my whole frame of mind started to improve.  From that little girl’s example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop majoring in all that I didn’t have.  I started to be grateful.”

The more you have God in your life the more you realize that you can be happy no matter where you are and no matter what’s going on around you.  You’ll be able to bloom wherever you’re planted.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

October 10, 2010