Let it Burn

 

Cindy Lynn sent me a link to a fascinating article about wildfires in the west the other day.  The article explains that for many years small, low intensity fires have been prevented from spreading.  This has allowed dead wood to accumulate and super flammable shrubs and trees to grow. 

The consequence of the suppression of so many small fires has been enormous; now when fires do take hold, they reach historic size and temperature and have potentially catastrophic consequences.  I read with interest, and as I finished reading realized that I had learned about more than just wildfires.

I had not thought in the same way before about all of the “little” trials that we experience in our lives; trials of inconvenience, those that resolve quickly, regular frustrations, challenging situations, difficult relationships.  Suddenly I could see a higher purpose for these types of adversity in our lives—a clearing away of flammable material, so to speak. 

I’m sure that whoever decided to put out all of these smaller fires thought that they were doing a good thing—sparing the environment from the stresses and destruction of those fires.  How surprised they must be to see in retrospect the damage caused by their help.  In the same way I know that I would save myself or those I love from all of the frustrations of life if I could, never thinking of all of the ways that these little issues shape our characters and train our responses each day.  Fortunately I lack that power, so one day, when the big fire comes (and we know it will, even as we hope it won’t) the destruction it can cause will be tempered by the maintenance done on the landscape of our hearts by all of the little fires that have come before.