Bloom where you are planted

The pohutukawa tree in my front yard bloomed from July to November.

That may not mean much to you unless you are from New Zealand, the home of the pohutukawa.  There it blooms from November to January peaking from mid December and consequently, with it’s beautiful red flowers and dark green leaves, it’s known as the New Zealand Christmas tree.

You may be thinking I’m in the Northern hemisphere so my small version of the tree was blooming in summer.  But no!  I’m “across the ditch” as we say down here, in Australia, where July is still winter.

And yet my little seedling began to bloom in July and continued throughout the winter months behaving very differently to its cousins back home.

Perhaps the milder climate here in Sydney encouraged it. Perhaps being planted out in a small patch of garden was a niche that suited it. For whatever reason it bloomed.

I sometimes think that's what can happen in our global lives. As we move to new locations that support or challenge us in different ways, we develop skills and take opportunities that are new to us.

Those skills and opportunities take us in completely different directions than we would have gone if we stayed at home. 

Sometimes it can be hard to see an ultimate direction for our development. It may not seem to be in traditional career related paths. And yet with hindsight we can often look back and appreciate our growth.

We have bloomed where we were planted.