Coral Peony

This coral peony I observed growing near Appletreewick in North Yorkshire. The Royal Horticultural Society advises one to do the usual cutting back at the end of summer, but also adds ‘remove dead flowers as they fade’. Flowers fade before they die, or do they die before they fade? The bloom pictured has not faded, but it surely will, or already has done by the time you read this.

Humans fade, too. Memories cloud, good looks diminish, muscles sag, skin tones grey. All of these are reminders of our inbuilt programme of decay and death. When this peony flower fades it will fall, and then become compost. In Christ, however, the decaying, dying and disappearing sons and daughters of Adam live again -better, bolder and brighter than ever they were before.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live”. John 11:25