Beauty From Ashes… Hello weekend readers. My musing as I write this today are all over the place! From the deadly SoCal fire to the weather that, from the Inauguration-to-the-East & south coast, there is going to be the opposite of fire—bitter weather with high winds whipping up “ice fires!” In northern Wisconsin it was flying “icicles” but not the one you want to grab. As kids, we tried and it felt like someone slashed you with a knife! It hurts people and does a lot of damage. So there, from fire to ice, and everything in-between, we find our climate, our wars, and sadly, our way-too-often ability to quickly dehumanize one another, and so much more. It whips up all kinds of conundrums and the beauty we would love to have in our lives feels more like pain and ashes.

My weekly Smithsonian popped up in my email and I was intrigued about their story on art galleries, its precision and layout—anything to bring in money. After reading it I remembered a friend of mine who had quite an adventure with an art gallery…in her church! Yep, that was her, a Chicagoan, a wonderful artist and an old hippie! She approached the idea of having an art show with her off-beat, multi-ethnicity church—it was a YES. Pop-up artists from all over set the scenes and a few days later the doors were open…but no one had any idea what was about to happen. They came in and in a minute there was a crowd drawn to a creamy-white pottery vase with random charcoal-colored veins. Some asked if it was from a Puebloan because they’re known as masters in molding horsehair pottery. It is the most difficult of all pottery and it takes years to learn the craft. Even the best will tell you that: out of five pots, they’re lucky to get two pots to sell.

Then an old potter who lived close by the church spoke loudly in his gravelly tone: “There are no horsehairs used when I created this vessel. The hairs are those from my beloved wife’s head during her battle with cancer. I praise God every day that she survived and for us both, this pottery reminds us how Jesus can make beauty from our pain.” The room went quiet and then a woman walked to him saying: “I didn’t want to come but my grandson loves the arts so I told him I would go with him. I can’t remember the last time I was in a church. It’s hard for me because Jesus and I haven’t spoken for a long time. I was mad because my husband, despite all the prayers he died and I was mad at God. But, when I saw this beautiful pottery and heard your story, I was confronted with the evidence that pain-fired beauty was possible if I would put myself in Jesus’ hands again.” The rest of the day? Her grandson shouted with joy and the party began – those with pain found beauty and those who were not troubled with pain and hurts, became the prayer warriors for those who needed it. God showed up!

Think about the potter…this man created art from one of the most dehumanizing moments of his wife’s painful sojourn, and yet it gives them both joy when they see it! Even more, they have the faith to see the beauty in God’s plan for them whether it is a good day or not.

In Ecclesiastes 3:11(NLT), King Solomon said: “I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” And yet … God always shows up!

We may not always understand what God is doing in our lives, but we can be assured it’s always for our good. Like the artist with his pottery, God is our potter and we are God’s clay. God’s molding will take us through the sand, the fires and the pain, and then, God takes our sad story and makes it into beauty from ashes. AMEN.