It’s tough when you feel like you’re stuck. Whether it’s in traffic, an elevator or just in a rut, it’s no fun. In fact, it can be downright stifling.

It’s especially difficult when you’re trying to get out. I have a few friends who are in uncomfortable situations right now and, despite their best efforts to escape, they can’t seem to make a move that isn’t thwarted. It’s not getting better as they hoped, and they’re wondering, ‘Okay, what do I do now? I’ve tried everything.’

If that’s you, then let me ask you this. Have you tried… staying put?

I was reading this interesting passage from the Bible where God sent a message to a group of people who were in exile. These people would be stuck in Babylon for a really long time, much longer than they wanted to be. What did God charge them to do? It wasn’t find an escape or fight against their enemies. Their mission was this:

“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” [Jeremiah 29:5-7 NIV]

In other words, bloom where you’re planted.

Life has a way of putting us in a holding pattern and there are a few different ways you can look at it. You can continue to frustrate yourself by cursing where you are and making escape plans that don’t work. You can wallow in the dirt and mud and become bitter. Or, you can begin to till the ground where you are and see what you can grow.

Now sometimes you need to move. It’s time to go. The season is changing. You’ve got to trust your gut when that feeling comes along. However, for the most part, a lot of life is staying put and being your best where you are.

So I ask, where are you today? Are you in a place that it seems you can’t get out of? Gather up your gardening tools. Cultivate life around you. You may find that the things you long for are right underneath your feet.