What We Will Become – Raised Catholic 174

The following is a transcript of a Raised Catholic podcast episode.

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Today is episode 174: What We Will Become

Hi friends. My favorite local farm opened up their tulip field this week, and I got myself there as quickly as I could to go pick my own, some for me and some for a dear friend of mine who loves tulips as much as I do. I was picking on the very first day they opened, when most of the blooms were still closed up tight, and you really had no idea what these flowers might look like once they opened up.

There were some clues, though. If you looked around a particular flower or down its row, you could see hints of the shape and color of the blossoms around it that maybe got a little bit of a head-start at opening. It seemed like a pretty fair bet that the flowers that were planted in the same row, at the same time, and in the same way would bloom in the same color or shape as the rest, or at least they would grow similarly. In one row, there appeared to be an equal mix of red, white, and purple tulips, so it was a good guess that any closed bloom in this section would likely open up to one of those three colors.

Or maybe not. As anyone with siblings or who has parented siblings knows, the things that are planted all together frequently don’t bloom in all of the same ways, right?

And friend, we all plant things, don’t we? We plant dreams and relationships and vocations, prayers and children and friendships and the work of our hands. These are the things that we plant with intention, but also, we plant so many other things without always thinking it through as well: some of our habits, our decisions, words we wish we hadn’t ever planted. But when we do put in the intentional effort to plant, we likely have a goal or at least a sense of what will come up, of what we believe these things that we plant will become in time. And as we wait, we tend them with water and fertilizer, time, and care, whatever we think they most need. We pull up the weeds that might endanger what we have planted, and we encourage the good things we’ve planted to grow. I came home from the farm that day with ten tulip stems for myself and ten for a friend, and in each bundle maybe half of them were fully closed and green, a fun mystery as to how they would unfold. And my friend and I have this in common – we love watching good and beautiful things grow.

But here are a few things I know for sure. These blooms will not open as daffodils or hydrangea but as tulips, for that is what they are. That is the field from which they were pulled. That tulips exist is already a miracle if you ask me, and I can trust that they will open as tulips do, because growing and unfolding is what tulips are made for. I couldn’t begin to understand just how it is that these beauties know how to shoot up a whole new gorgeous flower every year from something that looks as dry and dead as an old avocado seed, but that’s what tulips do. I don’t have to tell them to grow, and I can’t make them grow, but I can trust that they are growing and will unfold because that’s what tulips do. The same is true of all of the things we plant – the dreams or the relationships, the work of our hands or the vocation or the children or the prayers. We plant and God makes it grow. This thing we’ve planted with intention is real and it exists already. Whatever the thing is that is coming to your mind that you’ve planted – that thing already is and we simply trust and wait to see what it will become.

1John 3:2-3 reads:

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

That’s from the ESV translation of the Bible, by the way. The Message translation of the same passage says it this way:

“But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.”

I love this passage because it names what we already are and it expresses such hope for what we will become. What are we? Children of God. What will we become? Well, that has not yet ‘appeared,’ but friend, the sky’s the limit because when Christ is revealed we will see him and we will become like him. The same is true of the things we plant. These things already are, and we are the lucky ones who get to watch them become what they will become in God’s timing. Anything is possible, truly, and this is the story being told by every flowering thing that is showing off bold and beautiful these days. We become what we see, and when we see Christ we become like Him. What a miracle that is.

So, I’m wondering, friend, what is the possibility that is waiting to unfold within us? What is our potential? What have we not yet ‘become,’ not because we’re late or lazy or anything like that but simply because we, like some of my tulips, are not quite open and blooming with all of our colors just yet?

What if we thought to consider and name what we already are, the essence of us, the most important, central part, and then let that naming be the foundation for what we are becoming, just as the tightly closed tulip blossoms already are tulips which will unfold their beauty in time. And then, what if we could trust that opening and becoming, along with all of the good things we’ve planted to a benevolent, providential God who is always at work for us. What beautiful things might happen then?

I was entering one of my preschool classrooms this week when a kiddo called out, “Mrs. Candle! Hi Candle!” It wasn’t the first time I’ve been called ‘candle’ by a member of the preschool set, and I always chuckle when it happens. “Campbell,” my last name, can be tricky to say and it’s an unfamiliar word to most preschoolers, but candles they know. And when someone calls me ‘Candle,’ it’s actually a good reminder that that is precisely what I aiming to be in that environment. I want to bring light with me into these spaces and I want to pass that light on to each of my students and the staff that I work with as we move through a lesson and connect together. So, candle it is. They’ve named me and I’ll take it.

So, I’m wondering, friend, who are you already, today, just as you are? And what are the things you’ve planted with intention and how can you name them? How might you give space and water and time and trust to watch both yourself and these beloved things that you have planted open up and become what they already are this week? We are children of God who are becoming what we will one day see. With the grace of God, let us be on the lookout for the growth and the blooming together this week.

Thanks so much for being with me today, friend. If you need me, you can find me on Instagram @kerrycampbellwrites, at Substack at kerrycampbellwrites.substack.com, where I hope you’ll share a comment about today’s episode, or you can find me on my website at kerrycampbell.org. Thanks so much for rating, reviewing, subscribing and most importantly, sharing this podcast with a friend. That makes a real difference in growing our community, so thanks. If you would like to support this podcast financially, there are a couple of ways for you to do that in the show notes, along with some resources related to today’s episode, so do check all of that out, but before we go, let’s pray together.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Oh God, we plant and we water and we tend, but you are the one who makes good things grow. We give you our dreams, our plans, our prayers, our friendships, relationships, and our children. We give you the work of our hands, our vocations and locations and direction, and every intersection that you will make of our lives this week. God, we plant all of it in your kind and abundant heart, mindful of the Resurrection that is the Easter season and how you make all things new. Lord, help us to see the miracle of the colors and the blooming and the growth that can only come from you. We pray in the name of Jesus and wrapped in the mantle of our Mother Mary, amen.

Thanks so much for listening today, friend. I’ll see you next time.

Show Notes

This week we’re reflecting on a field of as-yet unopened tulip blossoms as a metaphor for the things we’ve planted but which have not yet unfolded, (even ourselves). I pray this episode is a blessing to you.

Thanks as always to my friend, Peter Vaughan-Vail, for providing the beautiful harp music you hear in this and every episode.

Here are some resources to help you dig into this week’s topic on your own:

1. Song: ⁠⁠Garden⁠⁠, by Matt Maher

2. Song: ⁠⁠You Have Me⁠⁠, by Gungor

3. Song: ⁠⁠The Earth is Yours⁠⁠, by Gungor

4. Song: ⁠⁠Only Good Will Grow⁠⁠, by Matt Maher

5. Song: ⁠⁠Grow as we Go⁠⁠, by Ben Platt and Sara Bariellas