Beauty From Ashes

Winter is fire season here in South Africa. Every day I can see smoke rising in the distance from a veld fire, and nearly every day I drive by a field that has been blackened from the fires. Along the side of the road, the highway, off in the distance.... the smell of smoke, hazy skies and blackened veld are ever present.

This could be depressing except for the fact that it gives rise to the most beautiful sunsets. Two years ago, after our first visit to Pretoria, I said that South Africa has the most beautiful sunsets, and I am sticking to that opinion. Because of the smoke, because of the fires, the sunsets are brilliant colours - burning orange, pink and every shade in between. I have never before seen such colours.

I am not the type to find spiritual analogies in everything, but I can't help relating this to the way God takes bad things in our lives and makes something beautiful of them. The challenges, difficulties and heartaches - the fires that burn in our lives - can yield the most beautiful sunsets if we will allow God to work in and through us, and not become embittered by our circumstances. If we only look around us, we will see black, charred earth - ashes. If we look up, however, we will see what God has painted with incredible artistry - beauty from ashes.

"...and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour." - Isaiah 61:3