Bloom where you are planted

Yesterday I got a rather discouraging message from the Human Resources department of the place I work.  I had applied for a team leader position and had made it through the first hurdle of my resume being accepted, to write a 3 hour exam to test my abilities.  I felt good leaving the exam back in September.  They finished grading the exams last week.

But I didn't get a high enough score on one of the elements to qualify for an interview. 

At first I was hurt, then angry that I had put so much of my time into this thing, counted on getting an interview, only to be slapped down.  Again.

Then, instead of obsessing about it like I used to do, I just put my reaction aside until I could look at the situation objectively. That moment came earlier this evening as I pondered why I would have to stay where I was.  As I considered the opportunities for helping the people around me, perhaps being there to hear about their lives and better yet, listen to their struggles and offer a shoulder or a little hope, I started to realize that were I to have gotten the team leader position, I would be isolated from those very people in an office which actually has a door that I could shut.  Hm.  From a spiritual perspective, that's not a happy prospect.  I tend to self-isolate as it is!!

Which got me to thinking about the saying, "Bloom where you're planted."  What does that mean anyway?  Of course that's where you would bloom - that's where you were planted! I - uh ...... Ohhhhh.  I get it.  As long as I thrive in the position I am in, that's all that matters. Contentment is the key.  Contentment with what has already been granted to me~!!

I've heard it said that money doesn't buy happiness but neither does poverty.  That may be true.  I've been poor. I've been what some might consider "well-off."  Yet, we all live to the fullest extent of our income.  No, there's something more to life than just money.  Or prestige.  Or influence.  

If I can't respect myself and enjoy Today, if I don't feel as though I am in the exact place that God wants for me right now, my own discontent can rob me of the joy of the Now.  A new-found friendship. A shared confidence. A thank you.  Sunshine.  The sound of children laughing.  An evening spent in the company of those with whom I feel emotionally and physically safe.  These things are worth so much.  Running around in a frenzy trying to chase something down that I may or may not catch is not going to give me peace, happiness or contentment.  

Who was it that said that happiness is not to be found in having what you want, but rather in wanting what you have?  Whoever it was ... had a lot of wisdom.