Fire

My husband and I recently took a long weekend away (no business travel for him= a loss of hotel status= a trip to burn through his remaining accumulated points). The trip was tremendous.

On a walk through a state park, we happened upon a sign about forest fires. My husband can’t pass up a sign, so we stopped to read. Salient points:

• Forests must burn fairly frequently to stay ecologically healthy. Plants need open and light conditions.
• Fire releases nutrients, allows light into the forest, and spurs regeneration of native plants that feed wildlife.
• Without fire, leaf litter accumulates, chokes plants and starves wildlife.

Besides learning about the benefits of Florida wildfires, I was struck by God’s perfect plan and provision for us. 

Though no one I know has passed away from COVID, it has robbed us of so much day-to-day interaction we previously took for granted. We have muscled through Thanksgiving and now prepare for a solitary Christmas thanks to its grip on our world. The heat of that loss burns and festers; scars threaten to darken this season.

But.

The burn of COVID will release us from obligations that choked up our time, it will open our calendars and spaces to thoughts that truly matter. We will be fed by the quiet that results from less busy-ness. Instead of choking on all that a typical holiday season expects from us- obligations that snuff the joy out of the season- this year we can rest in God’s plan for us, so many years ago, sending His Son to us to shine a light, to save us and spur us toward closer relationship with Him.

Bring on the fire. Let in the light.