Sometimes a Little Fire and Heat Are Necessary

Tomorrow my wife and I get on a plane for San Francisco. After a couple of days there we'll drive to Yosemite National Park for a week of anticipated vacation, hiking and picture-taking. The problem is there are wildfires that have currently entered the park and caused hundreds of acres of damage. And while the valley has not had any fire in it per se, there have been days when the winds have blown smoke into the valley covering the beautiful peaks and cliffs.

If that happens while we're there we're going to miss out on the gorgeous views and inspiring hiking and be hugely disappointed.

However, we have to remember something important about what is transpiring there even though the cause of the fire appears to be manmade. Sometimes fire is necessary or at least helpful in the middle of beauty because it provides a natural clearing of materials that will in the long run be harmful, not helpful. Sometimes dead brush begins to pile up on top of the lush ground and will eventually be either a deadly hazard for the next fire or keep the vegetation from growing effectively.

I've seen officials in beautfiul parks in the Midwest light controlled fires to burn away that extra, needless and harmful brush so that the living vegetation can grow as it should.  But for a while, it's not pretty. The charred remains of that brush hardly look appealing or attractive.

That can often be true during our life climbs through illnesses, family challenges and personal struggles. Often there is a fire of sorts that comes out of nowhere. It adds heat, conflict and temporary ugliness to our  lives and may have even been needlessly caused by someone who was careless.

Sometimes . . . not always . . . but yes, sometimes, those fires will be for our own good and will help burn away some of the things holding us back from growing and actually climbing higher.

For example, those fires can burn away false expectations. Sometimes we are still living in past, with an old picture that we're still demanding return when in reality in never will. The fire can help us see a newer picture again and let go of returning to day that are gone.

Fires can burn away our distractions. Often we become obsessed with getting even, getting healed, returning to the past or finding an answer to "why."  But those things are usually keeping us from focusing on the present where we need to be to continue climbing well and moving forward.

Fires can also burn away unhealthy emotions. Some of us are still living with anger, despair and panic about things that can't be changed.  When we let some of the emotions go along with the reasons for them we can start climbing more freely and minus a great deal of weight that we've been carrying around.  We can see God again in our circumstances and trust him for new expectations, a new picture and new emotions.

So, are there some fires burning in your Yosemite?  Try to put them out, perhaps, but let them do the good things they can do. It will help you to keep climbing higher and better.

Helping Others In Crisis Helps You Too

I've never been physically paralyzed in any way and hope I never will. The closest feeling might be that of having my arm or leg fall asleep but of course it soon returned to normal.

But there have been times when I've felt paralyzed emotionally and I'll bet you have too. This feeling is especially rampant after or while we're going through a crisis. We don't want to move, to try anything challenging or reach out to anyone. Some stay in bed, others become couch potatoes while another group find solace in the bottle or more sex or harder work.

But they all are emotionally paralyzed. They really don't accomplish much and spend most of their time wallowing in their pain. Could that possibly describe you right now?

Yes, we do need time during crisis to slow down, to reprogram, find true north again and work through our pain with a competent counsel or minister, we don't need to succumb to full paralysis.   In fact, that hurts us more and keeps us from growing, healing and moving ahead.

So what do we do?  Well, one suggestion is to serve others. Yes, reach out to someone else in need and begin to focus on their situation, their struggle and their needs. When we serve others we take the focus a bit off of our pain. We begin to discover that others are hurting too. We start to get new life and energy breathed into us as we walk through a struggle with another person.

Perhaps you can start small. Try just being present with someone who's gone through a hard period of time. Give a little money to help someone out. Go serve at a local ministry, non-profit or church.

Ideally, find something that either uses what you have learned from your experiences or your own personal struggle. If you care for someone with similar needs to yours you will share with them in ways the rest of us never could. You'll begin to see some purpose and meaning in your trials and discover that God hasn't given up on you either.

So don't stay in your emotional wheelchair.  You're not paralyzed and starting to live with that understanding could change everything - including you!

When You Fall, Get Up and Go On.

When my grandson was about nineteen months old he and I were running in the yard. At one point he fell down and as he was there on his back I heard him say, "OK."

I later asked my daughter, his mom, about that and she said that he always does that. He's letting you know he's alright.

We can fall a lot when we're climbing any of our mountains - loneliness, depression, long-term illness, marital struggles and job loss.  And yes, it's wise to avoid falls when we can. Climbers know that certain ones can be deadly. That's why roping together is pretty important.

However, it's easy to think that because we fall on one of life's climbs that we're broken, too injured to continue or a miserable failure. In reality we would be better to anticipate that we WILL fall, it's going to happen and it's pretty normal.

I remember when I first learned to ski that falling at the beginning was more the norm than the exception. In fact if you never fall you'll never try anything new or helpfully daring.  Falling is likely an indicator that you're making some progress.

So what can we learn from a fall?  We can discover something not to do again. Sometimes our fall was from carelessness, not being attentive or ignorance. Learn from it so you can avoid that mistake again.

We can be getting practice to do something we've never done. I know that in climbing you often need to try a move a bunch of times before you get it. But with enough reps and falls, you reach a level of ability and confidence you didn't have before.  What if you would have stopped and just turned around? Think of what you would have missed.


Third, falls can connect you with other caring people. Sometimes it's through a fall that you meet someone who will make up for your weakness, teach you something you didn't know and become a friend who you will climb with more.

Falling on your climb lately?  Chances are you're really "OK."  Get up and keep going.