Beauty for Ashes

I had one of those moments today. You know those moments that are so picture perfect that you would give your right arm (or left depending on which arm you value most) to have your camera. I was sitting by the water at Issaquena trails after a good bike ride with a friend and I saw one of the neatest contrast photgraphs. Sitting on a pile of black fire pit ashes was a bright yellow butterfly. It had just lighted there, like it would on a blooming flower in spring. As I sat there and watched this take place, two verses of scripture came to mind.
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17
I see and here this verse related to the life of a butterfly all the time, with a butterfly being a new creation and all I guess it makes sense. But the verse that was really at the forefront of my mind was from Isaiah 61.
Isaiah is speaking about the Lord's calling on his life and he says,
"He has sent me to provide for those who grieve in Zion- 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."
This is a life with Jesus. We trade all that we have, for all that is better. We give up an old way of life, for a better way of life. Its not always easy to see. In fact, many times its not visible at all. Today was a visual image for me of beauty meeting ashes, a reassurance that there is a stark contrast between the things I want for my life and the beauty of the things the Lord has for me; a reassurance that sacrificing the things I want will be worth it, some day.