(Pronounced cute-el-axo-chit-el)
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Eccl. 3:11, NKJV.
The beautiful poinsettias that grace our homes, churches, and businesses around Christmas time are a legacy of Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779-1851). Highly educated and from South Carolina, he was fluent in five languages and served in his state legislature, then in the United States Congress, before being appointed as the first minister to Mexico in 1825. Poinsett was an accomplished botanist who became enamored with Euphorbia pulcherrima (the scientific name for poinsettias that means “the most beautiful euphorb”) that grew abundantly in southern Mexico. Like most Aztec monikers, the Aztec name for this plant is a real tongue twister-slow down and sound it out phonetically: cuetlaxochitl. Other names for poinsettias include Christmas star, star of Bethlehem, lobster flower, Ataturk flower, and flame leaf flower. No wonder scientists opt for scientific names.
During the time since Poinsett introduced this plant to North America, poinsettias have become a best seller for plant growers, and much research has gone into learning their habits. How can we keep the shrubby plants small enough to be potted plants? What conditions turn the bracts red, pink, or white? Growers learned that plants bloom only during the winter when days are short and nights are long. In fact, to get plants to bloom in time for Christmas, growers have to “put the plant to sleep” early each night starting in October. Even a brief exposure to light during their required 14- to 14.5-hour night will prevent them from flowering. For two months the plants have to be treated with long nights if they are to develop their characteristically colorful bracts.
For Moses, his “long night” of character development in the wilderness may have been hard to endure. What night of private pain are you going through this Christmas season? I heard Wintley Phipps say: “It is in the quiet crucible of your personal private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and God’s greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you’ve been through.” Cling to the promise that God makes everything beautiful in its time.
Lord, You knit me together in the darkness of my mother’s womb. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. May I trust You completely, no matter how dark my nights of pain.