In his second letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul in the passage we read today points out that “Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” Taken literally, and out of context, that is good news to those of us with “snow on the rooftops.” We know full well we don’t have the same vim, vigor, and vitality that we had at 20, or 30, or 40, or even 50. We know how it feels to recognize that “our outer nature is wasting away.” But along with that physical slowing down, we notice something else is going on. Our priorities change; things that seemed of utmost importance in the past just don’t seem to matter now. “Our inner nature is being renewed day by day,” as our relationship with God grows stronger and deeper. To our surprise, we discover that divine energy upholds us with peace beyond understanding and deep-seated joy. If we look at the statement from a spiritual perspective, we begin to see that as our relationship with God develops, regardless of our age, our “outer nature,” our self-centeredness, slowly, over time begins to fade; it’s siren call loses its strength. Once we are ready to accept God’s transforming grace working deep within, we find that our “inner nature” begins to bloom with the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Gal.5:22) That is the “new creation” Paul describes elsewhere (II Cor.5:17) that God unfolds in us by the power of the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus. With the dawn of each new day, let us trust that the Holy One is at work in our lives renewing us for God’s service day by day. In the words of the New Zealand Prayer Book’s Night Prayers, p.184, “What has been done has been done, what has not been done has not been done; let it be . . . let us look expectantly to a new day, new joys, new possibilities.