Beauty in Desolation

In Volcanoes National Park on the big island of Hawaii, I stepped foot on a real lava flow. The cooled lava created a unique pattern of swirled gray rock. In some places, I could almost see the lava running when it was red hot. Metallic colors of the rainbow sparkled as they were reflected by the sunlight on the lava. I expected the lava rock to be hard, but it was brittle and porous as I stepped lightly over it. Each footstep made a crunching sound like I was walking on potato chips.

The path where the lava had flowed many years ago left a barren wastleland. I tried to picture what that enormous dried lava field had looked like as it swept through the valley, uprooting trees and setting fire to everything is touched. Now, all that was left was a solid blanket of cold, hard, sharp stone. Looking around, the eerie lava field made me feel a little sad.  

But then I stopped to look at my feet, and a huge smile spread across my face. There, growing up out of the ashes, was a tiny green plant blossoming with little plump red fruits. Against all odds, that tiny bush had found a way to take root and flourish in the middle of a desolate place.

It reminded me of Isaiah 61 where God says that He will "bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes." Only God can make such a beautiful plant prosper out of hardened ashes. And only God can help us to bloom and produce fruit in our hardened places. Out of the ashes, God creates beauty.