April 22, 2025 Still Blooming
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Still Blooming: Embracing What Comes Next
They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Psalm 92:14–15 (NIV)
Aging into retirement—or entering any new life chapter—often feels like stepping off a well-worn path and into uncharted terrain. I once knew where I stood and what was expected. Then, I found myself asking, What will happen next?
It’s a season of release—letting go of the fear of growing older or becoming less capable—and awakening to God’s ongoing invitations. Ready or not, He arrives with a basketful of surprises and fresh assignments.
Poet Rosemerry Trommer beautifully captures this transformation in her poem Driving Back to the Orchard Where Once We Lived. She writes:
I realize I am no longer a slender sapling.
No longer a pink cherry blossom in spring.
But I am not done with my blossoming.
I am not yet done with serving
sweetness to the world.
I am so grateful for all those years
that taught me the importance
of tending to soil,
how to meet drought, how to prune,
how to thin, how to plan.
But I am no longer a sapling.
Nor am I a workhorse of a pear tree
grafted decades ago.
I aspire to be more like purple mustard,
a weed growing exuberant and thick
in the long orchard rows—
grown to suppress all other weeds,
intent on improving the dirt,
a pest control, good for tilling,
a natural biofumigant.
But most of all, there is no stopping
that deep, sweet, surprising
and beautiful scent.*
Though our roles shift, we’re not finished just because the season changes. Our calling continues. We are not done with blooming.
Reflect: What part of your life is God inviting you to see not as an ending, but as a new beginning?
Pray: Lord, thank You for walking with me through every season. Help me release the fear of what I’m leaving behind and embrace the fruit You are still producing in me. Make me like that mustard plant—uncontainable in Your purpose, grounded in grace, and sweet with the scent of Your Spirit. Amen.
By His Grace,
Gloria Ashby
Lay Leader
*Found in Trommer’s daily blog: A Hundred Falling Veils; website: wordwoman.com.