Today, a wild fire broke out near where I live. Well, actually, it is a good distance from where I live but the billowing smoke is visible. The fire is another reminder of how dry we are here in Southern California as the drought continues to manifest itself in many ways.
However, today as I looked at the smoke covering the sky, I began to think about the scorched earth that will be visible once the fire is put out. Certainly the burnt ground will be a visible sign of what died in the fire. The mountainside will show the scars of life taken away by the fire. It may even show remnants of what firefighters dropped from the sky to help bring the fire under control. All will be reminders of a fast moving fire that consumed an arid land.
Yet I also pondered the signs of life that may be hidden below the burnt ground. I pondered how the burnt ground may be used by nature to nurture the soil in such a way to bring to life what rests below the ground.
In a few years, the mountainside will still show its fire scars. It will also show the beauty of mountain growth. The mountain will recover.
I pondered how this can reflect daily life, when an event in life can leave us scarred, hurt and, maybe, needing a little help to get through the hard times. Each of us experiences blessings in life. We will also experience life events that leave us scarred. May we trust in the life below the scars. Life won’t be what we knew it to be. It will be new beauty, scars and all.
– Blog entry and photo by Sister Terry Maher