I have a poinsettia left over from Christmastime, its red finery now faded. A few weeks ago, it surprised me by sprouting a tender green shoot. Every morning, I visit it to see how much it has grown and to celebrate its sprouting.
What if you and I are like my poinsettia—our outer finery fading, but inwardly growing and sprouting? What if, every morning, we looked for the sprouting instead of dreading the further fading of our outer finery? Then the new wrinkles and shades of gray in the morning mirror would only add to the fun of sprouting: the older we look, the more surprising our sprouting.
“[People whom God is recreating] keep sprouting, keep growing. . . . [T]hey keep sprouting new branches. They go on being fruitful in old age, vigorous and flourishing. . . .” Ps. 92:12-14.
"Age is not all decay: it is the ripening, the swelling of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husk." George Macdonald