Beauty From Ashes


   “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion -- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy 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 splendor.”  (Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV).
   I found a beautiful heart shaped leaf on the ground as I walked the other day.  At first it seemed out of place, lying gingerly atop the muck of winter by the roadside, soft and shapely next to rocks and mud. And then I realized that the leaf owed its beauty to the unsightly ground it lay on.  Without the benefit of the rocks and mud, the tree from which it had fallen would never have been able to take root. 
   It struck me as a perfect illustration of God’s plan to bring beauty from ashes in our lives.  The beauty of God’s grace and love in our lives frequently grows out of the rocky terrain of trials and the mud of suffering.  When placed against a backdrop that is darkened by suffering and tri ...

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