Scattering Ashes

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 33:3

In 2010 my father-in-law with Alzheimer’s came to live with us for that last season of his life. In February of 2011, he crossed over into Heaven and received a perfect spiritual body and a clarity of mind he had never experienced on this earth. After Bruce’s dad passed away, we received a portion of his ashes after cremation, and began identifying places we wanted to scatter them. We were very thoughtful in our decision and wanted to honor places for the most part where we had done life with him. I kept a small portion in a little box for myself at our home to mark the time he lived with us. A little butterfly sits atop this sweet little box protecting its contents and reminding me of the past. Not all the memories were good ones during that last year as Alzheimer’s is such a thief. But scattering ashes isn’t just about the good times, its about ‘all times.’ It marks a memorial for a shared life that has come to an end. It lays to rest the unhealthy…the sick…the broken. Scattering ashes marks a new beginning with new experiences.

I’ll just bet that there are emotional ashes that you need to scatter this morning. For me, there have been times that the emotions from challenging experiences needed to be memorialized so I could move on. It’s never good to hold on to emotional ashes. It’s never helpful to be tight-fisted around the ashes of hurt…betrayal…bitterness. It takes courage to scatter our emotional ashes, laying them to rest. It takes trust in God to handle our hurts and open our hearts for our future. There is one gift from scattering emotional ashes that is the gift that keeps on giving…the gift of freedom. Freedom from our past…freedom from our decisions…freedom from broken experiences. When we scatter all the painful emotional ashes with our hands, they are suddenly open to receive God’s best.