I am in the final chapters of the first draft of my third book and I’m so excited to see how it ends. (Yes, I’m excited to see how it ends too 🙂 )
This book has taken some interesting turns. I’ve met some characters I wasn’t expecting (they didn’t even have names or introduce themselves, but we’re working on it ;P ) and much of this book has been writing itself. It has definitely been one of the fastest drafts/stories I’ve written and it has been a journey through things I’m experiencing in my personal life, much like the other books I’ve written. I guess it’s God’s way of bringing to light the things I need to work on and areas I need to grow in like my characters. When I wrote the first two books, I had definite ideas of how I wanted the stories to go and what message I wanted to convey through the setting of a fairy tale world and this one, though the basic ideas of the Phoenix and Rebirth were in place at the start of the writing process, I wasn’t fully sure of the deeper message I wanted to portray through those elements. It seems the message of rebirth and dying to oneself over and over and over again are the themes that have been blazing through in this summer solstice tale.
When people think of summer, they probably think of swimming and family road trips and camping and fun events and carnivals around town. Growing up, I couldn’t wait to get the blow up pool out and fill it with water and go swimming almost every day. I would wake up and hope it was warm enough out for the water to be warm so I could go out and play in the water. Ironically, my niece is more of a Beach baby than I was :). As I grew older, summers became more about fire season. I am not a firefighter but during my summers home from college I worked at a place called the fire cache which sends supplies to wildfire camps. It was an unusual job but one that is very important to the safety and provision of those on the front lines fighting the wildfires that break out and work to keep our communities safe from the raging flames. We’ve had many years in Colorado where fires are huge and rampant and we worked long days refurbing and and cleaning supplies being returned and pulling orders to send out to other fires. The skies are filled with and smoke. Whole areas of forest are destroyed and leave blackened burn scars. As devastating as fires can be, sometimes fire is needed to bring new nutrients to the soil and burn the old and dead and decaying to bring new life. Some seeds and plants need the heat of a wildfire to open them up. Fire poppies sprout up in great number, filling the fields with beautiful flowers that only pop up after a fire, showing the new life and hope that can come from devastating circumstances.
One of my favorite theatre productions had a line about ashes bringing new life as the ashes were placed in a pot with a rare plant that needed a little nurturing and love. My name being Ashley, it has always been associated with the ash tree when you look at the meaning of my name. One of those little name cards you find in a bookstore described my name as meaning beautiful meadow, which I liked way better than the ash tree. But, when my mom and I attended that production, she turned to me and said, “See, you bring new life.” That stuck with me and though I’m still learning and growing into seeing myself in that light, that is the story I want to tell with this third book.
Fire in the Bible is used as something that brings renewal and rebirth. It is used as a picture of cleansing and purification. God spoke to Moses in a burning bush and led the Israelites with a pillar of fire. Fire was called down from Heaven by Elijah on the mount when he was confronting the gods of Baal and consumed the sacrifices, the wood and all the water they used to soak the altar. Elisha was whisked up to Heaven in a chariot of fire. Jesus stood in the fire with Shadrach, Mescach and Abednego when they refused to bow to the king and they emerged unburned and unscathed. We are often told that when we walk through the fire, God will be with us. Refiner’s fire is a hot fire that is meant to draw out the impurities and gold and silver so it can be scraped off the top and put back into the fire to draw out more impurities. Similar to this, the mythical Phoenix brings healing and rebirth. When it comes to the end of its life, it creates an altar and willingly sacrifices itself on the fire so it can be reborn.
My hope with this new story is to show the power of rebirth and how sometimes we have to walk through the fire to be purified and cleansed. The Phoenix’s fiery rebirth is something one of my main character’s experiences over and over and something I feel I have been experiencing in some ways with my life lately. Sometimes we have to completely die to ourselves and willingly step into that fiery death so we can experience rebirth. And, sometimes we have to keep stepping into that fire and continue to die to self again and again and again until we are able to step out into new life. Sometimes we have to dwell in the crucible and endure the heat of the refiner’s fire in order to draw out all the impurities and make us pure and beautiful.
I don’t know where you are at in your life right now. Maybe you are in the crux of a crucible and God is drawing out the impurities in you. Maybe you have to endure the heat of the refiner’s fire to make you moldable and flexible enough for God to shape you into the purpose you were designed to live. Just know, you are not in the fire alone. God is standing with you in the fire and will bring you through it. Ashes bring new life. Fire brings rebirth.
I hope you find and experience these truths in your own life as well as in this new story that will (hopefully) by the end of the year. Step into the fire and let your beauty be reborn.
Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller 