Beauty from Ashes

Proteas - amazing wild flowers from the Western and Northern Cape in South Africa.  Prehistoric shrubs burst into resplendent spring time beauty.  Each bloom glorious and dignified.

Then - the tiny blushing brides! Delicate almost transparent petals and  fluffy rose tinted centre.

Beauty does not come without cost and suffering. For new plants seeds need to fall into the ground, be buried and die. Protea seeds endure further trial - germination occurs after the seeds are burned by fire.

Beauty rises up from the ashes.

On the spiritual journey transformation, growth and beauty rise up from suffering.

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as 

if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these 

trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have 

the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.

1 Peter 4:12-13

There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Suffering with Christ allows the human soul to rise up - beauty from ashes.

Early Morning Message

The cellphone lay like a rock in my hand as I read and reread the early morning message. Five words that became imprinted on my soul as I tried to determine whether that message could possibly mean something, ...  anything ...  different from the obvious. 

"We lost Jenni yesterday evening".

Hadn't we celebrated the birth of Jenni's baby in our cell group yesterday afternoon ... premature and many complications ... but all was fine with both mom and baby?

Now my phone is the harbinger of terrible news... Jenni has gone. Surely not! I read the message again. This is the twenty first century! Mothers no longer die in childbirth! Is this a mistake? Medical science has all these complications covered, doesn't it?

 A phone call to Jenni's mother confirms the message. I go numb with shock and disbelief.

I remember the blond haired, sparkle-eyed beauty who was my son's good friend throughout their school years. Her bright smile that never failed to melt my heart. The happy, innocent days of childhood play and friendship, Sunday School classes and shared joy.

Thoughts turn to her husband whose dreams of a happy family life lie shattered, 
and the newborn baby who will never see her mother's beautiful face and loving smile, 
and her elder daughter who sleeps, blissfully unaware that life as she has known these past three years will never be the same again, 
and her loving and admiring parents who will never thrill at seeing her name on the caller ID or be able to share coffee or a meal together, as they have done for 28 years,
and brother, sister and friends who will feel the gaping hole of loss.

There are so many questions with no answers ... no words of comfort ... no understanding ... but to trust in God's sovereign wisdom (He who lost His own Son) ...  and take courage from the apostle Paul:

We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. (Colossians 1:11b-12 The Message).

Rest in Peace, Jenni, until we meet again. Deepest sympathy to my special friend Ruth and the family.