The summer has been long, hot and smoky and my flowers have suffered along with everything else. I had one pot of white petunias, hanging on a fence, that I was particularly attached to, Its blooms were so vibrant that they glowed in the moonlight. Ah,they also succumbed to the relentless heat, the plant became leggy and sticky and I chopped it down to the last bit of green. “Too late.” my friends told me, “You have to do it by July 4th.” This week, as I was eating breakfast, I looked out the window and, WOW, the little petunia was full of blooms. It is never too late to begin again.
I got to thinking about the story of Joseph and how many times it seemed like the end : thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold to a passing caravan, sold as a slave to Potiphar, betrayed by Potiphar’s wife, thrown into jail…story over? Nope. He saves the family and everybody gets back together.
Paul Simon wrote a great song called The Rewrite where it seems like this guy has been going through life making bad decisions that really affect his children but he’s been “workin on a rewrite” and he’s “gonna change the ending.” And the dad saves the children.
So, the petunias, Joseph, and the Rewrite all got me reflecting about the million and fifty-seven times that I have been cut back to the nubbins and it was after the 4th of July, but life bloomed again. In the front of my journal I have a quote from the book of Joel that reminds me of what I have been promised: ” I will repay you for the years that the locust has eaten.” Joel 2:25.
And, if that does move you listen to Winston Churchill: “Never, never, never give up.”
Amen for today…don’t be afraid to prune… and Be Holy
A Word to the Weary 