Fire ephemerals are a category of plants that will only germinate, grow and bloom after a fire. Botanists have all kinds of theories as to why that is...but the theories don't matter. It's just how it works. What is seemingly nothing but destructive suddenly produces unexpected new life.
Kind of cool really...
We go through our own times of fire, when it seems as if some unstoppable force is racing through our lives taking out with a vengeance everything we had built and saved and collected leaving behind nothing but naked black trees and dusty ash. It started with a lightning strike...an unexpected flash of circumstance. Maybe it was the loss of a job or home or relationship...or all of the above. Maybe it was a crisis of identity - that moment where one questions who they are and what they've been doing for the last 40 years. As it's happening, all you can do is stand back, garden hose in hand, and try to stay clear of the flames.
I read a beautiful description of faith by Paul Ferrini from The Silence of the Heart:
"Faith is the perception of goodness in that which appears to be evil. It is the perception of abundance in what appears to be not enough. It is the perception of justice in that which seems unfair."
What faith is not is the expectation that someone or something is going to swoop in and "rescue you" from your life.
Embrace the fire. Trust that beauty and fruitfulness will appear in forms that were never going to be possible in your old life. Appreciate uncertainty. Savor it. It's delicious if you're brave enough to take a taste.
I like what is sprouting up in the still smoldering earth of my life. It's kind of nice to be free of the dead entanglements. New life and new love.
A world full of wonder...and a giggling soul.
Peace,
WS
Kind of cool really...
We go through our own times of fire, when it seems as if some unstoppable force is racing through our lives taking out with a vengeance everything we had built and saved and collected leaving behind nothing but naked black trees and dusty ash. It started with a lightning strike...an unexpected flash of circumstance. Maybe it was the loss of a job or home or relationship...or all of the above. Maybe it was a crisis of identity - that moment where one questions who they are and what they've been doing for the last 40 years. As it's happening, all you can do is stand back, garden hose in hand, and try to stay clear of the flames.
I read a beautiful description of faith by Paul Ferrini from The Silence of the Heart:
"Faith is the perception of goodness in that which appears to be evil. It is the perception of abundance in what appears to be not enough. It is the perception of justice in that which seems unfair."
What faith is not is the expectation that someone or something is going to swoop in and "rescue you" from your life.
Embrace the fire. Trust that beauty and fruitfulness will appear in forms that were never going to be possible in your old life. Appreciate uncertainty. Savor it. It's delicious if you're brave enough to take a taste.
I like what is sprouting up in the still smoldering earth of my life. It's kind of nice to be free of the dead entanglements. New life and new love.
A world full of wonder...and a giggling soul.
Peace,
WS
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