Waiting to Be Filled

~ posted by Betsy

It caught my eye while I was walking.

A rusty burn barrel, well-used and worn. Hardly what I would have pegged as a noteworthy photo opportunity. Silently it stood, on its bed of brown winter grass. Waiting to be filled.

I wondered why I was drawn to it. Something about it spelled beauty. How many relics of hopes, dreams, and daily life had been stuffed inside, then set aflame? How many pounds of possessions had been reduced to charred, glowing ashes? How many flames of crimson, gold, and orange had reached toward heaven, sending out shimmering waves of warmth; crackling and popping with excitement; then dying down to a quiet sigh?

How does beauty spring from ashes? Is it in the freedom that comes from the letting go? When I willingly release all I once held dear, I am empty enough to be filled. The old is gone, the New now comes. The One who created me, and knows all the days ordained for me, can now re-create in me His plan.

And in His plan, is beauty.

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ…” (Philippians 3:7-8)