HE LIVES

My Christmas poinsettia just will not give up, and the funny thing is, I don't even have a green pinky, let alone a green thumb. My sister gave the plant to me a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving, and we were surprised when it was still alive on Super Bowl Sunday. Okay, we were more than surprised. We were perplexed. What are you supposed to do with a perfectly healthy poinsettia weeks after the holly and mistletoe have disappeared? We had never encountered that puzzle before. In the past, I had considered myself fortunate if a poinsettia managed to hold most of its leaves through Christmas dinner.

When Valentine's Day rolled around, my husband Mike and I were preparing our home for a special dinner with our class. Although we tried, we just could not make the poinsettia work with pink satin tablecloths and red rose petals. So, we banished the poinsettia to the garage, where we figured it would finally expire. Days later we discovered it had flourished. Since poinsettias like to be really dry before getting a good soaking, we had unintentionally encouraged it to grow. Suddenly we felt guilty for wanting to snuff life out of a plant that was trying so hard to live, so we sheepishly brought it back inside and gave it a spot on the hearth.

Lo and behold, my poinsettia has made it all the way through Easter. And I've begun to wonder if that has been the point all along.

The world celebrates Christmas with gusto and then tucks the nativity baby away. What harm can be found with an infant born in a manger? Especially when accompanied by toys and Santa and dreams of sugarplums.

But what do we do with an infant who has grown to be a man...and professes to be the very Son of God? This Jesus cannot be tucked away. He is the Risen Christ. HE LIVES!

Just as surely as the blind man who proclaimed, "I was blind and now I see!", every person who has experienced the risen Christ is forever changed. When we make the decision to die to ourselves and live for Christ, He is resurrected in us and we too can proclaim, "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."

Ah, Easter. Not so easily tucked away. Jesus is alive! In me! So, who can blame a poinsettia for wanting to hang around for the celebration?