GRANDPAUSE:

Hem your blessings with praise lest they unravel. –Unknown

For two summers in a row, wild fire spread through another residential community in Colorado Springs. The Black Forest fire destroyed another five hundred homes, adding to the 347 homes destroyed by the Waldo Canyon fire exactly one year ago. There are probably few people in Colorado Springs who don’t know someone directly impacted by these fires.

My good friend, Ted and his wife, Teresa, devoted followers of Christ, were among those who lost everything as the Black Forest fire burned their house to the ground leaving nothing but ashes and debris. Once they were allowed to return to where their home had once stood, Ted and Teresa began the tedious process of searching through the ashes hoping to find something of value. Suddenly, out of those ashes a tiny piece emerged—an important part of an annual tradition in their family.

You see, on Christmas Eve each year,Teresa was always the last one to bed and would hide a tiny ceramic sculpture from their Nativity set of the baby Jesus in a manger. When Christmas Day arrived, Dad and son, Thomas, would begin the search for baby Jesus. Before any of the presents under the tree could be opened, this miniature Nativity piece had to be found. It was a fun and meaningful time for them as the search ensued. Once found, it brought the real purpose of their Christmas celebration back into focus for a time of meaningful worship. Even when Thomas isn’t around, Teresa still hides baby Jesus, and Ted searches for Him.

No one imagined that precious ceramic sculpture, valuable only to them and not much bigger that a large postage stamp, might have survived a fire that had consumed so much. Yet, miraculously, there it was—blackened by the fire and smoke, but still in good condition. After finding the treasured miniature sculpture, Ted commented, “This really was a special and defining moment for Teresa and me in all of this. So many things came together through the fire that could not have been possible without the hand of God.”

Luke’s Gospel describes Jesus’ visit to the Nazareth synagogue where he grew up. There he reads from Isaiah about the coming Messiah, God’s Anointed One, who would “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” As Jesus finishes reading, he leaves no doubt who the Anointed One described is. Though Luke doesn’t record it, I think Jesus probably read the rest of that passage as well… “to comfort all who mourn…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isa. 61:2-3).

For me to speak of comfort and praise when I am not the one living among the ashes seems so trite and empty. Yet when people like Ted and Teresa speak of it, I am reminded that all that Jesus said is true. For those who know Him, who gave up everything to give us life with a capital “L”, there really is comfort, beauty and praise in the midst the ashes.

Sadly, when stuff is all we have, despair is all that’s left when it’s gone. Thank you, Ted and Teresa, for reminding us all that there really is something more important than our stuff. And thank you for the miniature illustration of God’s blessings rising from the ashes as a reminder that praising God for those small blessings keeps our lives from unraveling when everything else is a pile of ashes.

Grandparents, Ted and Teresa’s story is a beautiful illustration of God’s grace and goodness in the wrenching moments of the worst imaginable circumstances that may come our way. Our grandchildren do notice how we respond when life deals us a severe blow. It’s not hard for them to figure out what we really treasure in life.

In America, where affluence reigns, how do you teach your grandchildren not cling too tightly to the things of this world, but to pursue things above that do not rust or burn up? Our readers would love to hear your stories too.