Beauty out of the Ashes

 Ever notice how God uses nature and everyday events and circumstances to reinforce in us His eternal spiritual truths? Maybe I just need lots of object lessons, but I was driving home from a shopping trip several days ago. We were loaded down in our little “better gas mileage” car with dog food, cat food, chicken food, and of course people food too. I always feel a little nervous in those “better gas mileage” cars. Kind of like when I get out, I will have a rash on my seat because of being too close to the pavement. So to assuage my nervousness, I was looking out the window at all the beauty of the high desert on this gorgeous sunny day. Don’t worry- even though my eyes were on the scenery, my hands (both of them) were on the wheel. It was unusually greenish for this time of the year, due to some very nice rain through the spring.

 My eye was suddenly caught by what appeared to be a lake. My logic and reasoning took over and reassured my consciousness that there are no lakes in this Southwest, and certainly not between the towns of Socorro and Magdalena. There in the pasture to my right, however, was a huge “sea” of purple/blue flowers. They lay close to the ground like a carpet, and formed a perfect lake in the tan of the pasture. It was stunning. No doubt the early rains had produced this wonder also. I was amazed and awed.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. This same stretch of ranchland had been hit by a fire last year, which had burned many, many acres.  I remembered back to a year past when on this same stretch, a person could see the charred remains of the fire, lament for the loss of foliage and rejoice that the terrible fire was contained before it damaged houses or more property. The huge black scar was very noticeable last year… but this year, in the exact location, was a sea of marvelous color!

 Now, perhaps the Botanists around can explain something about how the chemical make up of the soil changed after the fire, making conditions for these flower seeds to take hold and flourish, or the range management specialists may be able to give us some scientific details, but this simple brain of mine knows it was an object lesson of Isaiah 61:3. The same way that God took the charred land and made it a place of beauty by putting the flowers there to grow, He takes the charred remains of places where you and I have been “burnt” and gives us beauty for ashes.  We know that sometimes in order to manage the forest wisely, we have to burn the underbrush off, or conduct very controlled burn. The same is true of our lives. There are some things in life that just have to be burned off, in order to maintain our healthy spiritual lives. God would have us to give them up willingly, but when we do not, or cannot, He will step in to take them. Gently at first, and if they have too great of a hold on us, and we are truly His and desirous of His best, He will burn them out of our lives. Even the times when we are “burnt” or hurt by others can be redeemed by God. The lesson of Isaiah 61, however, is that He replaces beauty untold for the ashes of our lives that have been burnt.

 I cannot tell you what a thrill it was to see that lake of purple flowers in the distance on that drive. And it was even more glorious seeing the flowers, remembering what had been there several months before. AWESOME. What hope that gives to our wondering hearts. Will we ever be something, someone God can use? Will we ever be something beautiful to Him and the world? (Let me give you a clue…you are already something wildly beautiful to Him.) Can He ever do anything with the ashes of my life? After all, I’ve been “burnt” a lot in this life, by others, by my own poor choices, by life itself. Can anything of beauty or worth ever come out of it? YES!!!!

 Look at the object lesson of the flowers in the formerly burnt place. Look at the Scriptures and claim their promise to you. He will and does give us beauty for ashes. He takes our feeble and meager existence and fashions it into a beautiful creation for our good and His glory. Then He puts us together with all of His other children to make up the very body of His Son Jesus Christ. Can anybody say AMEN?

 By His grace and mercy, God wants to take the burned places of our lives and grow flowers of every color there. We will look and be amazed. Others will see and marvel at the beauty for ashes. And God’s kingdom will be advanced. Let’s trade our ashes in for beauty.

 

            “ I can trade these ashes in for beauty,

              And wear forgiveness like a crown.

              Coming to kiss the feet of mercy

              I lay every burden down

  At the foot of the cross.”

 From “At the Foot of the Cross” by Kathryn Scott from NO BOUNDARIES