Volcano!

I have often said Timothy’s plane crash had the effect of a bomb exploding in our home. Nothing was left; everything was destroyed. Then, when Herb passed, it was like throwing on a stick of dynamite and blowing up the rubble. Add some family problems and other heart-breaking issues, and it was scorched earth.

Likewise, Karen, a bereaved mom, used the analogy of the Mt Saint Helen’s eruption to describe the passing of her 27 year-old daughter. She gave me permission to share her insight into how God brought beauty from the charred grey matchsticks left behind after the eruption.

Karen said this:

“Years ago I studied Mt Saint Helens, a live volcano in Washington state. When it erupted, it stripped the land with a blast that left nothing: Raw land, covered in ash… no dirt, no nutrients, no plant life, no animals on the land. It blew the trees flat, and the landscape was so devastated, the trees looked like stacks of gray, ash-covered tooth picks. Everything was destroyed.

Or so it seemed. Scientists agreed to wait and observe how it would naturally recover, without their help, and something remarkable took place.

Their question: What would be the first sign of life after total devastation?

Answer: A single Lupine flower appeared on the ruins.

Next question; Why this plant? How was it able to grow when nothing else could? There was no soil, no nutrients.

The answer: Nitrogen Fixation (converting nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form that plants can use as fertilizer). The Lupine flower drew its sources from above instead of from below, because there was nothing left below. This showed me how incredibly powerful God is to restore, and what God can do on such a massive level.

For OUT OF THE ASH not only could that flower grow, but more importantly, it also established soil for other things to grow. The paintbrush, for example, was able to pull nitrogen from the lupine roots and reestablish itself after the eruption. By drawing resources from above, like when we look to God for mercy and help, it established a new beginning out of the ash.

It was a slow process for life to grow, but in the long run, the ash created a rich soil. The eruption of May 1980 changed the ecology of the mountain; but God creates and repairs in the most unimaginable ways. He can make a way even when it seems impossible.”

I appreciated her reminder that when I look to others as my source of understanding and comfort, I am disappointed. They just don’t get it. And when I compare my life “then” with my life “now,” I am disillusioned. It’s not what I wanted. But when I reach up to God and cry out to Him for everything I need, He is there. When I turn my face upward in praise and gratefulness - even when it's counter-intuitive - it changes my attitude, and I am able to speak life to others with the same comfort I have received from the Lord.

Do I always do this? Noooo! Sometimes I fall face first and don’t have the energy to move or even pray! If I allow anger and self-pity to join me, I’ll be there a while. But when I get tired of eating and breathing ashes, I know there’s only one way out. I lift up my tired hands, holding all my depression, anger, fear, and weariness, and ask the Lord to carry it for me. I reach for the nail-scarred hand, and He gives me His peace for my pain. I don't know how He will give beauty for the ashes, but He said He would, and we walk by faith – not by sight.

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“Thank you, Father God, for being faithful, even when I am not. Increase my faith so I can trust you to keep your promises, even when I don’t see it happening. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

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“To all who mourn in Israel he will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.” Isaiah 61:3 TLB

“Lift your drooping hands, strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet.” Hebrews 12:12-13 ESV

“Throw all your worry on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 ISV