The Bloom Blessing
In early June, a Redeemer School staff member blessed me with one word … bloom … along with the following scripture: The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. (Isaiah 35:1-2) The Holy Spirit clearly led her to share this blessing with me and I am confident that it was because I was supposed to share it with our school. There is power in blessing when it is based on the solid foundation of God’s infallible Word. This blessing of hers ignited my desire to understand it more. In honor of Redeemer School, where “lifelong learning grows here,” I began to research the word bloom.
I came across several definitions/themes and the first one was this:
Bloom: To mature into the achievement of one’s potential; To flourish in excellence; To shine out.
I began praying and asking the Lord what that word and definition mean for Redeemer School. In our covenant community, we know that each of our children are unique and precious gifts from God, created in His image to reflect His nature and character. By God’s grace, through our partnership, our children will bloom as they come into full agreement with their identities in Christ as God’s children and share that with others. They can only come into full agreement with their identities when they are surrounded with the truth in God’s word and experience the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are only found in Christ.
While I continued to pray about the word, “bloom,” I also walked around our campus because so much is always in “bloom” on our grounds. I came across these flowers.
This image perfectly represented another truth to me. In this world where it is so easy to wither and so very hard to bloom, Redeemer School is called to bloom distinctly. When we bloom distinctly, we are recognizably different in nature from something else of a similar type. If you look at their surroundings, these flowers in the cracks should not have bloomed. But, because of their foundation, they did anyway, and they did so beautifully. Our children will bloom distinctly with the solid foundation of God’s truth.
These understandings called me to research even more and this time, I started to research flowers that were distinct. I came across the Rose of Sharon and here’s what I learned:
- It is reliable and it looks fresh regardless of the temperature or soil it’s in. We know that because of Jesus, we can rely on the promise of new life because He died for all of our sins. We can also rely on all that we find in God’s Word in the Bible. And, because we are God’s children and have claimed Jesus to be our Savior, we have the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Heat, humidity, and drought can’t beat it. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found and all of the things that challenge us, disappoint us, cause us fear, or hurt us can’t beat us.
- It’s pest resistant. Because we know that God made us, He specially designed us in His image, and He chose us.e can be resistant to all of the things or even people that challenge the truth of our identity.
- Best of all, it comes in towards late summer, when you’re thinking the chance to bloom is almost over. Instead, the Rose of Sharon is a sign of hope.
We at Redeemer School can boldly glorify Jesus, and like the Rose of Sharon, we can bloom distinctly!
