It was open coastal country that nobody tended, exposed to wind and weather, where things grew without anyone planting them. And in that ordinary, unattended place, roses came up.
If you are reading this in a quiet house, or a small room, or a chair you spend most of the day in, and you have wondered whether anybody is still paying attention to your life, that is exactly the ground where this flower grows.
And the second half of the verse matters as much as the first. The lily of the valleys. Not the lily of the mountaintops. Lilies grow low.
Written for more than one person
Those who have walked a long way with God. You have buried people. Your body does not do what it did. The house is quieter than it was, and somewhere in it you may have begun to wonder whether you still matter.
Anyone who is grieving. A husband, a wife, a child, or something that had no funeral.
Mothers running on empty.He shall gently lead those that are with young.
Ministers with nothing left, who cannot say so out loud to anybody.
Anyone who walked away and is not sure the door is still open.
And anyone who has sat in church for years and is still not certain they are saved.
Twenty-five chapters
Part One asks why the Lord named Himself after a flower that grows in plain ground, and unpacks Psalm 92:14; they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. God put that word in because He knew you would wonder.
Part Two deals with what the years have taken. When the body will not do what it did, with Isaac, Jacob, Eli, David and Barzillai; God recorded every one of their failing bodies and never called it a failure of faith. Outliving the ones you loved. The house that is quiet now. And Psalm 71, the old person's psalm, which names the real fear: not losing strength, but being left once you have.
Part Three gives you five who grew old with God. Caleb, who asked for the mountain where the giants lived at eighty-five. Anna, eighty-four years a widow in the temple, who recognised the Christ when the priests did not. Simeon, who held an infant, never saw the cross, and said it was enough. Abraham and Sarah. And Moses, whose eye was not dim at a hundred and twenty.
Part Four applies the G.R.I.T. framework to the later years, with a chapter on each pillar.
Part Five handles legacy, the fear of dying, and Isaiah 46:4; even to hoar hairs will I carry you.
Part Six is for everyone else; the mother, the minister, the one who walked away, the one who is grieving, and the one who is not sure they are saved.
Made to be read comfortably
25 chapters across six parts, 6 x 9
Larger, clearer type, set for eyes that have read a long time
A King James verse opening every chapter, quoted and unpacked
A prayer at the end of every chapter, written to be prayed aloud
Reflection pages in every chapter with generous ruled writing space
A hyperlinked table of contents; tap any chapter to jump straight to it
"They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing." Psalm 92:14
FORMAT: 6 x 9 in · instant PDF download · print at home or read on any device
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