Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you. Isaiah 46:4

Several years ago I discovered amaryllis bulbs which are usually for sale in the late fall. The fat bulbs are planted in deep pots and go dormant for most of the year until the fall when green shoots appear and long, slender leaves grow from the the bulb. In time a single stalk slowly emerges and shoots upward like a green trunk. Sometimes it takes weeks for the amaryllis to wake up and “do its thing”but then wonder of wonders, flowers form at the top of the stalk and burst open in gorgeous shades of red, orange or coral, as big as plates and more showy than prize roses.

Last fall I bought two bulbs at the end of October and began tending them. The first one did exactly as expected, had healthy leaves and twin stalks which seemed to grow right into the top of the window seeking light and air. Soon the flower buds appeared, but I didn’t get to see them because I went to Germany in early December just at the time when huge crimson flowers, five on each stalk appeared. The flowers were so lush and heavy, the stalks couldn’t support them and almost toppled over.

The second bulb was a different story. Nothing happened in November or in December and I was ready to toss it because I assumed it was dead. But I watered it when dry, turned it toward the sunlight and kept checking for green growth. Finally, finally in late January leaves emerged and a stalk began to grow. And grow. And grow some more until almost 24 inches tall. Then the miracles happened. One, then another flower head formed until now there are five gorgeous orange-hued blooms in various stages of their flowering. It took almost four months for this amaryllis to bloom. But mow, it fills my February winter window with the life that was in it all along. It is simply a late bloomer.

Lately I have felt more dormant than full of vitality, more dry-bulb-like than flourishing. I still want to be a primed-ready amaryllis in this later season for isn’t that what God intends? To have life and life more abundantly? Well yes, but I’m discovering  that even in old age, there is a later blooming. It requires more patience and more daily tending. It requires seeking the light of Christ when I feel only darkness; it requires watering my soul with the Word of God when I wake in the night parched and thirsty. Like a plant turning toward the the sun, my heart daily seeks God’s love.. Isaiah understood that God sustains us even into old age, not just when everything grows lushly. Some bloom in their season and others do so later. However the life of the Spirit is never dormant.

In Isaiah God promises that He will bear us up even when we’re gray haired, perhaps not flowering as we used to and needing more support so we don’t topple over. God gives life and will sustain it to the end. We live and move and flower in His timing and seasons

Praise God for becoming His late bloomer!