“to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the LORD to glorify him.” – Isaiah 61:3
Ashes tell the truth about what has been lost.
But they also testify to what God can restore.
Advent is the season where God takes what has burned down in our lives and breathes restoration into the rubble.
Beauty does not always arrive quickly — but it will arrive.
God is a Redeemer by nature.
He rebuilds what sin and sorrow have torn down.
And often, His restoring work begins long before we can see the first signs of beauty. What feels like desolation to us may already be fertile ground in His hands.
Nothing is wasted when it is entrusted to the God who brings life out of loss.
“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” – Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place
Contemplative Question: Where do you feel the “pit” is deepest in your life right now — and what would it look like to trust that God’s love reaches even there?
Prayer: Redeeming Heavenly Father, take the ashes I carry and grow something beautiful in me. Amen.
When God Came Near 