When surrounded by the ashes of all that I once cherished, despite my best efforts I can find no room to be thankful. But standing there amidst endless ash I must remember that although the ashes surround me, God surrounds the ashes. And once that realization settles upon me, I am what I thought I could never be ... I am thankful for ashes.

If all we see are cinders and ashes, all we see is ‘what was’ at the expense of what the cinders and ashes are preparing to be.

f all we see are cinders and ashes, all we see is ‘what was’ at the expense of what the cinders and ashes are preparing to be.

Have I not yet discovered that the ashes of today enrich the soil of tomorrow?

To be thankful when my world lays in ashes long gone cold is to finally understand that ashes are the raw materials from which God shapes dreams infinitely grander than whatever the ashes were before they were ashes.

Today’s ashes are tomorrow’s soil.

It’s not about the ashes, for they tell a tale of what was. It’s about having a vision sufficient to understand that the tale that lies among the ashes stands ready to build the dream that will rise above the ashes.