This beautiful Torenia is also known as the Wishbone Flower. I have an easy time growing them. Plop them in the earth or a hanging basket, keep them watered when dry, and you will have blooms all summer. Once every few weeks, I cut away stems forming seeds. They don’t need as much deadheading as many other annuals. I’ve never been disappointed in my Torenia plants. I made one mistake last year: I put one plant in full afternoon sun. The flowers did fine, but the foliage burnt a bit.
The poem complements the plucky sunshine yellow of the flowers. Isaac Watts, (1674 -1748) is the author of this and hundreds of hymns still being sung around the world.
As I sang along with Dolly Parton, and other YouTube videos of JOY TO THE WORLD, I was suddenly caught up in the words “far as the curse is found.” Some renditions, such as Parton’s, leave this phrase out, but others include it. I am comforted by the lyrics that Christ Jesus rules the world with truth and grace; he defeats the curse of sin and death. This verse of the song reminds me of Bible verses I love—
“Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea, even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast. ~Psalm139:7-10
Bethlehem Church of the Nativity
The words from Psalms remind me that wherever there is man, wherever there is good or evil, the Lord is with us in every situation. Wherever the curse of evil works it’s way in, the Holy Spirit can cast it out. There is nothing too hard for the Lord God Almighty ‘who was, and is, and is to come.’
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” ~Revelation 1:8
