Until The Smoke Clears...
Blessings and Curses
We have been waking up to a ball of fiery red that is the current sun, wearing the cloak of a fire victim. And we have been spending our evenings watching the only sun we see all day become visible behind a thick cover of smoke over the mountains, looking much the same way. The smoke is caused by out of control wildfires in Central Oregon. One exploded overnight to almost 140,000 acres, due to a moistureless storm front that moved through, with winds of almost 40 MPH. This is only one of the twenty wildfires burning in Oregon, uniting in a total of almost 600,000 burning acres.
The air around here, along with the soil we walk on, is as dry as a popcorn fart. The humidity regularly resides at between 10-15%. I have never felt anything remotely like this, even in the usual turbo-wildfire season of mid-August. It is too early to be this hot, this dry and this smoky. The sun hasn’t been seen for days in Boise, despite the temperatures hovering over 100 degrees for most of the last 3 weeks. This is unprecendeted.
The evaporation rate of the resevoirs is quickly depleting the source of water for many of those in heat-exhausted California. California fires number 12 with acreage at almost 100,000.
To put this feeling I have into words is like stepping through a field of lava. I feel the heat is on. Purposefully driving the news cycles and everything we see in front of us. For the antidote to this, I believe that my only way through is to be attuned to everything that is naturally in front of my face, in front of my spirit, in front of my soul.
I feel the fragility of life all around me, but I know that I know that I know I am not in control of this world. I cannot control the random jerk who thoughtlessly throws his Virginia Slim out the window on his way to the liquor store and starts a catastrophic wildfire. I know my limits…but God, on the other hand, has no limits.
I know it is my job to be a good steward of this land He has given to us. I pray over it and take care of it, which also includes watching out for my little birdies, bunnies and lizards who have chosen to make my home their home too. I pull the unwanted weeds and cultivate the wild natives who spring up and take root around me. I watch the horizon for flames and am cognizant of my water useage. I do not want to be wasteful, yet I want the space around my house to be defensible. I would love lush green gardens around me. Yet, that is not responsible in this geographic area. It is the high desert/range of the Rocky Mountains, home to sagebrush and creosote bushes that are decades old. Lava rocks and boulders make up many landscape formations, and I have to wonder where that volcano used to be that threw them to where they sit today. I am so very grateful for the modern mini-split AC system that Hubs and I installed 12 years ago. Before that it was just a swamp cooler, or evaporative cooling. That works when humidity is so low.
I sense the helplessness of me in the physical realm, just as all mankind is helpless against that which is larger and greater than the sum of our human-ness. I believe that what we see with our natural eyes is just a mirror of the greater spiritual realm.
I do sense a greater spiritual growth and knowledge of the positive reality that I am NOT helpless when it comes to what really matters. And, that gives me the power and authority to command my circumstances with a boldness that was missing 4 years ago. I am not going to a victim of anyone or anything because I will not allow it. (1 John 4:4)
With all that being said, I am not perfect and a good meme or two will make my day.
The last meme 😂 😂 😂 That one got me. 😉
That last meme cracked me up.
Ah... yes, we are helpless is some respects and most definitely not in others and good on ya for discerning the differences there. The power humans really have has to be claimed - or someone else (as we know) will happily claim it.
Hope it cools down soon. I assume geo-engineering is behind most of the extremes.
Best to you SJ.