beauty for ashes... and beauty for ashes.

the great exchange.

created. designed. molded. made. whole.
and yet broken.
somewhere along the way, shards of sin
penetrated both the penetrator and the penetrated.
yet it did not touch the source,
leaving hope for healing and
an entirely convincing sense that
things are not right.

sexuality. trading our beauty for ashes.
life-giving exchanged for death and dying.
the acronyms are overwhelming.
AIDS. STD.
the words at times even worse:
rape. disease. lust.
addiction. apathy. incest.
to be summed up in one word: broken.
inside, outside, shattered.
fragments of what the LORD intended.
same sex, opposite sex, self, others:
shards of glass, mini-mirrors
reflecting broken relationship and image.
how do we even begin to imagine...
....wholeness.

"it is good; very good" quoth He
in the garden.
male and female he created them.
good, very good!
and so, in this restoration revelation
do i dare believe that God can
yet again
begin to redeem, restore, ransom
giving beauty for our ashes,
wholeness for our brokenness,
and celebration for our desolation?

the spring, the source, the origin,
is untainted.
therefore, from that well
must we draw for our healing.
receiving beauty for our ashes.