Fresh And Flourishing

Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green.

Psalm 92:14

When I read this verse I think of Sweet Fannie Lou! She is eightysomething, and still fresh and flourishing in her faith, still giving her best for God to use.

She once told me, “I do not cook. I do not clean. But I sew!” And sew she does! She makes the most gorgeous slipcovers you have ever seen and gives the profits from her sales to God. She loves the Lord, and she serves so many women. She is my “Dorcas.” (You can read about the biblical Dorcas in Acts 9:36-41.) Dorcas was one of those followers of Christ in the early church who remained vital and green, still producing fruit in old age.

God is so good to enrich our lives with older friends who are fresh and flourishing. What gifts they are to us! As much as I want to be like them, I must admit that I have had some minibattles with the aging process. I have ordered a few beauty creams when I have been in a physically weakened state. After my surgery, at a very weak moment, I did a little shopping off the hospital-room television in the middle of the night after seeing before-and-after pictures of women reflecting great results from those creams. Out came the credit card! Suffice it to say, the cream to reduce dimples did not work. The product for under your eyes to “hold them up” did not work either.

But sweet friend, I take courage in the fact that, far more than beauty creams, Christ Himself keeps us fresh and flourishing as we follow Him. My friend Fannie Lou is living proof of His beautifying power in a willing life.

We have everything to look forward to as we grow older in Him but remain vital and green. He wants to continue to bless others through us to our last day on this earth!

Fresh and flourishing—I’ll take it! Write a note to a fresh and flourishing older woman in your life, thanking her for the wonderful example she has been of giving God all.