So today I write a few thoughts on how God brings beauty from ashes. I have written some thoughts about this before, of course, but I want to add a couple of new and important points. I will start by pasting something I wrote in my journal in August 2011, less than one year after my "great sorrow day" and several months before Charlie and I were married. It describes a vision (mental impression) I had while sitting with Papa in the Secret Place.
Vision:
I was standing in the midst of a quite large burned out area of forest. In the
distance I could see mountains and knew that around me was lots of unburned,
healthy forest, but where I was standing was ravaged by fire and the burnt
ashes were on me to some extent. I heard you tell me that this is my life: the
burnt area representing this hard season I am passing through. I saw from the
vision that it’s not a huge part of my life, but I am still in the midst of it
and the ashes are still clinging to me and the landscape still looks bleak at
times. Yet as I continued to watch, I saw green plants begin to spring up
through the mantle of ashes that were all around me. I knew that you were
telling me through this that even the scarred places will become beautiful
again, like any forest after a fire, and that things will grow there that could
not otherwise. And as I kept watching, I cleared the boundary of the burnt area
(it wasn’t that much further as far as I can tell), and in the distance,
getting closer, I saw Charlie dancing and dancing! She was so beautiful and
joyful, Papa. And I see you, Jesus, standing even as I write this, and I hear
your invitation to dance, and it means more than I can express (because Charlie
is in it, too!).
There are two things that I realize as I look at this beautiful picture God gave me during that season. First, I realize that in spite of my preconceptions otherwise, "beauty from ashes" takes time, a considerable amount of it! Just as a burnt over forest recovers slowly and in stages, so it is with God's promise to bring beauty out of our ashes. Second, and perhaps even more important: this process allows the burnt places of our lives to produce types of beauty that wouldn't otherwise be seen. You probably know that when a forest progressively recovers, it doesn't immediately produce the kind of plants and trees that were there when the fire hit. On the contrary, God has so planned for the tragedy of "ashes" in the life of a forest that He prepared special plants and processes that are produced best only through a fire. That has always amazed me, even in the realm of nature, but it becomes even more remarkable when applied to the burnt out areas of our lives. There are things that cannot be otherwise seen, beauty that cannot otherwise be experience, fruit that cannot otherwise be produced apart from a "forest fire."
This does not mean, of course, that pain, disease and death were or are part of God's plan for His creation. But it does mean that in His love and knowledge of all things, He has prepared ways to be certain facets of beauty from that which He never intended but came through Adam's rebellion. Amazing!
But there's an important difference between us and forests! A forest is a passive participant in the process of restoration, whereas we can choose to cooperate or reject God's process for restoration. I have found that running to God, opening myself to His rain and reign, entrusting myself to His people helps His healing process immensely. And I am also helped by the perspective I am describing today. It helps not to expect beauty to pop up instantly from the ashes! It helps, too, to realize that God's definition of beauty may include many new and different things. And it helps to believe and hold fast to the wonderful truth that God is so powerful and kind that He will ultimately turn our ashes into something more beautiful than what we could have seen had the fire never come.
I am still journeying with a few ashes clinging to me, but living as I do in this new beauty I commend to you today's thoughts. May they encourage you in your own journey from ashes to beauty, from burnt out to built up.
Marveling at His Creative Goodness,
Tom, one of Abba's ash-dusted children
There are two things that I realize as I look at this beautiful picture God gave me during that season. First, I realize that in spite of my preconceptions otherwise, "beauty from ashes" takes time, a considerable amount of it! Just as a burnt over forest recovers slowly and in stages, so it is with God's promise to bring beauty out of our ashes. Second, and perhaps even more important: this process allows the burnt places of our lives to produce types of beauty that wouldn't otherwise be seen. You probably know that when a forest progressively recovers, it doesn't immediately produce the kind of plants and trees that were there when the fire hit. On the contrary, God has so planned for the tragedy of "ashes" in the life of a forest that He prepared special plants and processes that are produced best only through a fire. That has always amazed me, even in the realm of nature, but it becomes even more remarkable when applied to the burnt out areas of our lives. There are things that cannot be otherwise seen, beauty that cannot otherwise be experience, fruit that cannot otherwise be produced apart from a "forest fire."
This does not mean, of course, that pain, disease and death were or are part of God's plan for His creation. But it does mean that in His love and knowledge of all things, He has prepared ways to be certain facets of beauty from that which He never intended but came through Adam's rebellion. Amazing!
But there's an important difference between us and forests! A forest is a passive participant in the process of restoration, whereas we can choose to cooperate or reject God's process for restoration. I have found that running to God, opening myself to His rain and reign, entrusting myself to His people helps His healing process immensely. And I am also helped by the perspective I am describing today. It helps not to expect beauty to pop up instantly from the ashes! It helps, too, to realize that God's definition of beauty may include many new and different things. And it helps to believe and hold fast to the wonderful truth that God is so powerful and kind that He will ultimately turn our ashes into something more beautiful than what we could have seen had the fire never come.
I am still journeying with a few ashes clinging to me, but living as I do in this new beauty I commend to you today's thoughts. May they encourage you in your own journey from ashes to beauty, from burnt out to built up.
Marveling at His Creative Goodness,
Tom, one of Abba's ash-dusted children
2 comments:
Thanks, Tom. Excellent metaphor of hope.
Thanks, Tom. Excellent metaphor of hope.
Post a Comment