Turn These Ashes Into Beauty
by SusanMy sister’s house burned down, and I didn’t know it for a week.
I’d been camping-playing-hiking in Death Valley National Park with my son and his Boy Scout troop. We were having a sweet time out of cell phone range admiring God’s colorful handiwork on Artist’s Drive and Mosaic Canyon, golfing through salt formations, sniffing the Desert Gold flowers, tumbling down sand dunes, sliding over waterfall-polished stone, and checking out the dark night’s lunar eclipse and constellations. Meanwhile, my sister’s home was in ashes.
She lives with her family among people who are lost spiritually, socially, educationally, physically, and economically. Most of her community is illiterate. With no personal access to the religious literature that shapes their lives, they rely instead on the interpreted say-so of the local powerful person. Wife beating is an accepted and expected form of social behavior there, as is polygamy. Impoverished by a corrupt government, the people endure starvation and pain, unable at times to afford food or medication.
Although death is commonplace, these people are not apathetic about it. They work hard for the little they have. They make lots of babies, hoping a few will survive. They dance and sing, scraping up joy wherever they can. They have become friends with my sister, who doles out ibuprofen and vitamins to those who need it the most.
On Sunday, when they saw flames devouring my sister’s home, they rushed to help rescue her possessions. Many of them cried over her losses, and some even wailed and tossed dirt into the air to prove the depth of their sorrow. They returned hand-me-down clothing that my sister had previously passed on to them, and they shared food from their meager supplies.
The Old Testament book of Isaiah predicted what the messiah (God’s chosen one) would do in the “year of the Lord’s favor.” Besides preaching good news to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted, releasing prisoners from darkness, and comforting those who mourn, he would
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.
It’s fascinating to me that while my sister has longed to help these people who are in desperate need, God has used her own newly humbled state to level the playing field between them. Now she can speak with them from a mutual sense of loss and need. Her need for the fundamental things is as great as any person’s, reflecting the deeper reality of their mutual need for grace.
In the coming weeks, months, years, I’ll be looking to see what beauty God will evoke from the ashes of a burned-up house and from the kindness of a malnourished community.
February 24th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Excellent insight, Susan. How surprised you must have been greeted by this news when you returned.
I am reminded of Jesus’ words - It is more blessed to give than to receive.
I think that indeed we are better off to be in a position where we are able to give than to be in such a situation that we need to receive.
I hope your sister and her family are well.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Beautifully written, Susan. It seems to me that at least some of the beauty has already been revealed, and I have no doubt that more will be seen as our eyes are opened to see it.
It strikes me as some kind of proof, or at least a timely lesson, that you have just come out of a place where you experienced God’s miraculous ability to create beauty in the midst of a desert. How much more beautiful will be that which he creates in this desert time for your sister and her family?
February 25th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I must ask — because it is me, you know — about “golfing through salt formations.” I’ve hit a shot or two well off line in my time, but this sound interesting….
February 25th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
While I can’t be sure it’s what Susan was talking about, there is a place in Death Valley called the Devil’s Golf Course. Attempting to walk very far in this area would almost surely lead to a twisted ankle because one must basically hop from one amorphous structure to the next. A golf ball would almost certainly drop into a hole that would likely be six inches wide and two feet deep. It would take a miracle to find your golf ball again, trying to play the ball would immediately wreck your clubs.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Yes, I was indeed referring to the Devil’s Golf Course. The boys would tee off from the boundary of the parking lot/golf course. Some of the area just near the parking lot had been flattened, so depending on their club, they could drive the ball pretty far. Once it fell, though, that was it — no bouncing or rolling or any additional motion. So the other boys would carefully watch to see where the ball plummeted. I don’t think they lost any balls, thanks to the synchronized team work. You’d be surprised at how quickly those boys could skip-hop-jump through the area.
We play in the Devil’s treacherous golf course every day. I’m certain we could not do it without our compadres in the church. Whenever I’ve moved to a new town, one of the first things I’ve done is to search for a new church family. I cannot imagine living without one.
March 10th, 2008 at 6:11 am
[…] speaking of today, I mentioned two weeks ago that my sister’s house burned down, to the ground. The replacement value for what they lost is currently estimated at $100K. Just in […]