The instructions said that in order to make my Poinsettia bloom again, it needs to spend time outdoors in the summer, then be cut back in the fall, and then experience uninterrupted darkness for at least 15 hours a day until Thanksgiving.
Cut the plant back, plant it, dig it up, replant it, place it in a closet, take it out of the closet…the discussion went on for pages. Certainly more work than I wanted to do! So, I just put that year’s plant in a sunny spot and enjoyed the bushy green growth all spring, summer and fall, and didn’t worry whether it would bloom red come next Christmas.
What a surprise it was, then, to notice bright red bracts on the prior year’s plant when I watered it that morning. No special rules, no elaborate rituals followed, just the beauty of the seasonal plant doing what God created it to do.
John 1:14,16-18 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
It was grace which freed us from the law-of forcing a bloom, or of earning our salvation. Merry Christmas!
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