Flora and Fauna

"the earth brings forth its bud"

Isaiah 61:11

I read an article about a volcano the other day.  And it made me think of God.

Which is not altogether surprising.  A lot of things make me think of God.

It was an article about Mount St Helens, in Washington State.  It erupted in 1980, and in the years since, the flora and fauna have returned to a degree that has surprised scientists.

The blast obliterated more than 200 square miles of meadows and forests and lakes and everything that lived there, but the article included beautiful photos of wildflowers and trees.  As has been said, "Life finds a way."  The animals that have crept back in as the plant life has grown back, have brought with them seeds from other plants, plants that one wouldn't expect to find in that area, or wouldn't expect to find flourishing in that soil.  

I think there are two great things about this story.  One, is the kick I get every time I read the words "scientists now know..." or "scientists once believed..."  

Now, don't get me wrong.  I love scientists.  Well, I appreciate scientists.  I only love a couple, specific scientists who are near to my heart.  But scientists have a tendency to think that they know everything there is to know on a subject, and the rest of us are uneducated or in denial if we don't draw the same conclusion from the evidence that they do.  So I like it when they are surprised.  Shows that sometimes there are just too many variables to be able to come to a definite conclusion. 

But the other thing I love about this story, is the God part.  Life.  Hope.  Beauty.  There's a beautiful passage in Isaiah 61 that speaks directly to this:

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

Because the Lord has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound...

To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness...

For as the earth brings forth its bud,

As the garden causes the things that are sown in it

to spring forth,

So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

to spring forth before all the nations."

(verses 1, 3 and 11)

Beauty for ashes.  It's not just that life finds a way; it's that God gives life a way.

~ "Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart,

All you who hope in the Lord" ~

Psalm 31:24

~