Beauty for Ashes

"...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 splendor." ~Isaiah 61:3

He gives us beauty for ashes. Think of that. What are ashes?

According to a dictionary...

ash–noun
1. the powdery residue of matter that remains after burning.

In other words: it's what is left after the fires have come and devoured.

It makes me think... He gives us beauty for ashes. Why ashes? Why that particular analogy? I think it can mean different things, especially for different walks in life. Ashes are ugly and messy. He takes our ugliness. All the loathsome thoughts. All the impure motives and restores us. But I also think it carries a slightly different meaning...

The Lord himself allows us to go through fires. He allows the burning to take place. When He gives us beauty for ashes, I believe He was the one who has caused us to become ashes in the first place. He often brings us to the rawest, most vulnerable states in order to construct and mold something infinitely beautiful.

"...the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." ~Proverbs 3:12

You don't know what you've got till it's gone.

I cannot wait till the place of no goodbyes. The place where tears are no more and friendships are everlasting...

Today I sadly stood and waved goodbye to my best friend as she drove down our driveway and onto the road of independence. My sister Elise was off to Kansas City. With all the tears that followed an onlooker might have guessed that she was leaving forever. In reality they were only evidence of the fact that she left us with more than an empty bedroom. She has never been gone for more than two weeks, and the realization that I will no longer be able to sit on her bed and talk any time I wish is beginning to hit me like a blow to the face.

There is a familiar saying, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." I fear that I took her for granted at times. Everything she did. Always serving. Always loving. Just being her beautiful self. I love an miss her, and I know that my future times with her will be rich and all the more treasured.

To Gaze Upon His Beauty

One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
~Psalm 27:4

I can't tell you how much this scripture has become real to me over this last week. I have this burning in my heart. I want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord. I want to search Him out. He's a shoreless ocean. A bottomless well. He is the Author of Life.

You're all I want.

You're all I need.

You're everything.