Ancient Egyptians revered the phoenix, a mythical, majestic bird sacred to the sun-god, Ra. It was fabled to exist for 500 years or more and then to be consumed in its own fire, only to rise from its very ashes in rebirth. The phoenix symbolized resurrection, or immortality—the restoration or renewal of what had seemed utterly lost.
This symbol points to the renewal of thought that's needed when cherished relationships, hopes, and joys are reduced to ashes—consumed in the heat of misunderstanding and mistrust. Working from the standpoint that whatever spiritual good God has given us can never be taken away, that we and the ones we cherish are all held in divine Love, that no malicious influence can reverse good or imperil the life of any right idea, we can see harmony and progress restored. This is a function of the office of the Christ, spoken of in Isaiah: ". . . to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," Isa. 61:3; and it can be fulfilled in our experience.
How great is humanity's need for restoration—for recovery, renewal, recompense—a return in thought and demonstration to original perfection! From mythical Adam's fall to today's turbulent overturnings, the good in human experience sometimes appears irretrievably lost, often because of one's own mistakes. Yet Christ Jesus' life experience demonstrated the immortality, the permanency of good through his understanding of man's unchanging relationship with God as His loved child.
