When I think of Alaska, one of the first images to cross my mind is of a field of fireweed. Fireweed flourishes along the roads, on the hillsides, and in your backyard. Its glowing magenta color transforms the landscape.

Last week, as I drove along the Turnagain Pass on my way to Seward, I was struck by the beauty of the fireweed. Looking up, I saw vivid fields of fireweed scattered across the mountainside. It was breathtaking.

It also piqued my curiosity. How did fireweed get its name? My research uncovered an interesting story.

Fireweed got its name because it is one of the first plants to grow after a fire. It requires disturbance to grow. After World War II, the first plant to blossom in the bomb craters was fireweed. It was also the first plant to appear after the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens in l980. In Alaska, it seems to instantly appear along the highways, bringing healing and transformation to the disturbed earth after road construction.

Even more fascinating, once trees begin growing and providing shade in the burned area, the fireweed dies due to the lack of sunshine. However, the seeds that have fallen from the fireweed remain buried in the soil. When a new fire clears the ground, the seeds germinate and fireweed blooms once again. Fireweed thrives on disturbance.

Fireweed turns ashes into beauty.

Fireweed: Beauty from Ashes

Living on this earth, everyone experiences disturbance at one time or another. Some troubles are minor, but some sweep through our lives like a raging forest fire leaving behind total devastation.

God has allowed many disturbances to blaze across the landscape of my life. Uprooting me from a comfortable life in America to a ministry overseas, far from my family and friends, set a match to my complacent heart. I felt reduced to ashes.

But once the smoke cleared, God transformed my ashes into new growth. I will never be the person I was before the fire. God always reaches down to sweep away the ashes and tenderly cultivate the tiny seeds waiting to bloom in my life.

Through the years, a promise found in Isaiah has sustained me during troubled times.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. “

(Isaiah 43:1-3 NIV)

Knowing that God walks beside me through the flames of life makes all the difference. Just like fireweed requires sunshine to flourish, I need an unobstructed view of the Son. And sometimes that requires fire to burn away the obstructions blocking my view.

My friend, if you are currently experiencing a fiery disturbance, remember the fireweed. The seeds of hope, buried beneath the soil, are waiting to burst forth into glorious beauty in the hands of the Master Gardener.