Rebirth

The whoosh of flame warmed our faces as we watched the fire crackle and dance, sweeping across the prairie grasses as quickly as a ballerina in a frenzied ballet.

The vivid oranges and yellows of fire gave way to a desolate blackened landscape. And, as you might remember, the "controlled burn" on our Conservation Reserve Program land ended up out of control.

But, just days later, green emerged from the black - a signal of rebirth.

To fulfill the requirements of the CRP contract, Randy planted a blend called Forbes grasses in the ash. (You can see the ridges made by the drill in the photo below, and the Forbes mix in Randy's hand above.)

Illinois bundleflower ... purple prairie clover ... false sunflower ... Indian blanket ... clasping coneflower: The names just sound beautiful, don't they? (They ought to with a pricetag of $3,492 just for required seed mix!)

Eventually, the green of the CRP grass will be dotted with these "flowers" found in some of our other pastures.

Two years ago, I was in the Flint Hills in April and saw grasses re-emerging from the blackened earth after springtime burns. Burning the prairie to replenish the grasses has been part of the cycle of life since the time when Indians roamed the Great Plains.

And the dance of rebirth continues.Sometimes we have to live through a little "fire" to see God's promise of rebirth on the other side.

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I'm linked today to Jennifer's Getting Down with Jesus: God Bumps and God-Incidences.