Kyushu Azalea

Rhododendron kiusianum, the Kyushu azalea is a striking flower. The Kyushu region of Japan includes the city of Nagasaki, the infamous recipient of Bockscar’s ‘Fat Man’, the atomic bomb which forced an end to the War in the pacific in 1945. It seems strange that so beautiful a flower should be associated with a place known for its appalling devastation and destruction.

Truly, the Lord brings forth beauty from ugliness, hope out of despair, life from death:

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. Isaiah 61:3

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