“I feel stuck,” a friend confided as we sat and talked over brunch. We were in a season of life that involved a lot of waiting, and this waiting made her–and me–feel paralyzed. We felt like we couldn’t really start living until this season was over. But the more that I look in God’s Word, the more I see His call to flourish in the present. Jesus’ life powerfully exemplifies this. We tend to think of the goal of Christ’s life as His death and resurrection, but that didn’t happen until Jesus was about 32. He didn’t just wait and not do ministry until His thirties, but rather healed people, cultivated relationships, and boldly proclaimed God’s Kingdom throughout His entire life. 

I often get caught up in the trap of thinking flourishing is equivalent to living my best life – I change the focus from Jesus to me. I worry that if everything isn’t perfectly working and lined up, I can’t be at my best and flourish for the Lord. But that’s assuming that flourishing is based on my power, and (thank goodness!) it’s not. In His love, Jesus extends His offer of strength that is perfected in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9-10). Flourishing isn’t meant to make us strong on our own, it is meant to make us run to Jesus and rely on His strength to carry out His Kingdom plan, sitting at His feet instead of working off of our own strength (see Luke 10:39).  

I love the story of Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman in John 4. He’s in the middle of a journey, tired out, and sitting without His disciples. And then He chooses to proclaim His glory and purpose to a woman coming up to the well. Looking at the situation from the outside, the circumstances were not ideal–He was tired, He was in an area no Jews ever went in, and He was in the presence of a social outcast. It would have been easy to just rest and pay the Samaritan woman no mind. But Jesus reached out to her and engaged with her in conversation, ultimately revealing Himself as the Living Water who alone satisfies us. Instead of waiting for the circumstances to be perfect, He engaged with the person God had placed in front of Him by the strength of God, for the glory of God, and for the purposes of God’s Kingdom.

Today, let’s flourish where God has placed us. Instead of worrying about our surrounding circumstances being perfect, let’s be prayerful and notice who and what He’s placed in front of us. And then let’s come to Jesus’ feet, relying on God’s strength as we allow His Spirit to flourish in us, proclaiming His love and satisfaction to a thirsty world.