My in-laws are retired grass seed farmers and they live out on some property. They've got a big yard, lots of trees, bushes and flowers, and a big garden every year, so inevitably, they end up with yard debris. And while they compost and certainly re-use whatever they can, we will typically see this big, brown, dry pile of the excess yard debris out at their house.
About a year ago in early summer, we were out there visiting them, and I happened to look over into their burn pile area and saw something really weird. It actually looked like there was a plant growing out of their burn pile. It was bright green and you don't normally see that in the burn pile. So I walked over to take a closer look and my mother-in-law came over to me, she said, “What are you doing?” and I replied, “Well I think there is a plant growing out of your burn pile!” and she kind of chuckled and said, “oh yeah, we noticed that too! We couldn't quite figure out exactly what it was and thought it was really weird!”
She mentioned that my father-in-law had been super surprised that anything could have grown out of the burn pile because he said that at the end of the fall when they had burned the remnants of their garden, the fire was so hot that he thought it would have totally killed any sort of seed that could germinate.
So we kind of laughed about it, started looking at it closer, and tried to figure out what plant it could be. Then we realized they were zucchinis! A full-grown zucchini plant with some zucchinis growing on it. One was even ready to pick! My mother-in-law picked one and gave it to me like, “Hey, you found it! Here you go!” We were kind of joking about it because that was actually the first fruit from their garden. Their garden hadn't even started to produce yet.
This image in my mind of this green plant coming out of this burn pile has really stayed with me over the last year. And I wanted to share it with you because a lot of times there are things in our lives that feel dead and dry and brown and just like a big burn pile. Maybe it's something with finances or a relationship or health issues. Name whatever problem you might have, but it just feels like it's completely dead and there is no opportunity for new life.
I really started thinking about the spiritual images that came to mind from this plant coming out of this burn pile and I was reminded of a verse from Isaiah chapter 61 that says (talking about Jesus), “He has sent me to comfort all those who are sad and to help the sorrowing people of Jerusalem. I will give them a crown to replace their ashes, and the oil of gladness to replace their sorrow, and clothes of praise to replace their spirit of sadness. Then they will be called trees of goodness, trees planted by the Lord to show his greatness.”
Some versions even say “he will give them a crown of beauty to replace their ashes.”
That image has stayed with me over the last year. This idea that God can take those things that are dry and dead and bring new life, even produce fruit from them, is amazing. So I just want to leave you with that thought today. And I hope that whatever is in your life that just feels so dead and dry and discarded, that God would just meet you there and use that to begin to grow new fruit.