Flourish

My daughter is three and in that phase where she’s curious and asks questions about everything and anything. We were running late one morning a couple of weeks ago, and as I was rushing her to the car she stooped over to pick up something from the ground. It was a bud of some sort and she asked, “Why is it green?” I quickly brushed her off with an “I don’t know.” Her response caught me off guard: “Maybe it didn’t have a chance to bloom.”

“Maybe it didn’t have a chance to bloom.”

I immediately thought of the girls and women we will come to serve at Restorations. Little girls dream of being ballerinas, teachers, doctors, mothers, “construction builders” (my daughter’s current choice). They don’t dream of being in prostitution when they grow up. Who plucked them before they had a chance to bloom?

The other night, I had the opportunity to speak with a young adult church group. They asked how they could make a difference, and I asked them to pray for the women we will come to meet and serve. I became emotional as I shared with them how overwhelming it is to think that the young women we will come to serve are currently are being exploited – or in a position where they are about to be. It’s devastating to know that as we are working hard to open our home, so much suffering is already being endured or the groundwork for it is happening. What is preventing these women from blooming, from flourishing?

“See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19 (NIV)

I looked up the definition of the word bloom. The verb “to bloom” could mean “to flourish or thrive,” but I really loved a definition I found of the noun use: “a flourishing, healthy condition; the time or period of greatest beauty, artistry, etc.”

I also looked up different definitions of the word flourish. Most of the definitions I found emphasized success or prosperity which don’t really seem to connect with my idea of flourishing. One definition really stood out to me: to grow well.

At Restorations, it is our desire to see residents have a chance to bloom like they haven’t had before. To nurture healthy condition and greatest beauty. To develop artistry in areas they may have only dreamed about. To “grow well.”

“The LORD will bring about
justice and praise
in every nation on earth,
like flowers blooming
in a garden.”
Isaiah 61:11 (CEV)