I try to breathe but the dense air makes me cough as I inhale. I squint as I look out across the haze and my burning eyes blink uncontrollably as I strive to focus on the scene just beyond my backyard. I feel like I might suffocate. I need oxygen.
How can this be? The west coast is burning. The raging fires are uncontrollably ravaging forests, fields, towns, and suburbs. I start to draft my plan and carefully craft a checklist of what to pack if we need to evacuate. But then I stop. I question where we could even go if we have to evacuate. The fires are north, south, east and west of here. There’s no escaping. The apocalyptic fire’geddon seems to surround me.
I turn to the news. The news is bleak. I’m not alone in this devastation. Correction: we’re not alone in this devestation.
There are wild fires, hurricanes, and devastating storms like never before recorded. Entire communities and regions are being wiped to oblivion.
And of course, on top of all that, now there’s new scientific evidence that planet earth is poised for a major seismic event. No! Not an earthquake or volcanic eruption. Please… no!
My head is spinning and my thoughts are jumbled.
Between the fierce fury of Mother Nature and the relentless stampede of Father Time, the resilience of a weary planet seems to be disintegrating before my very eyes.
The blood red sun in the sky dissapears to an eerie shadowy reminder that this is my new reality for the moment. I wonder about the future, long for the past, and try to prepare for the present.
I sit in deep thought trying to look through the dense foggy smoke toward the river I can’t see.
Not sure how long I sit staring out my window.
Then softly in the background one of my favorite songs starts to play. It’s followed by another, and then another. The soothing music and comforting words bequeath a blessing on me.
As I listen I reach out to embrace the beauty of the promises that God is with me. I cry out to my Abba Father reminding Him that I desperately need Him to come through for me.
In response, He pours comforting calm in my soul as He reminds me that He has not forgotten me; and, He never will forget me. He loves me. I take courage as He assures me the He has never failed; and, He never will fail.
I breathe a deep sigh of trust, of peace, and I know I can rest in Him.
He gives me oxygen. He gives me Life. I close my eyes and breathe the goodness of God.
Beautiful In Time 