Smoke Filled Sky

2014 view from our kitchen window and the current view from our deck

As I sit at my beautiful majestic mountain ranch, Mystic Mountain Retreat in Bigfork Montana, just thirty minutes from Glacier National Park, more than a hundred forest fires burn in the surrounding Rockies from various lighting strikes.  There is no present danger to our home or our property, but the smoke filling the Flathead Valley is getting thicker by the hour. In the horror of it all there is beauty as it makes for an incredible bright fluorescent red sun by day and an eerie blood red crescent moon by night. The record heat and low rain fall has created a cinder box among the thirsty and dying evergreen pine trees and brush. Hourly the local governance is rating the changing air quality, as what little breeze there is mixes up the glorious Montana air with the reverberation of a campfire. There is little relief for my burning eyes from the smoke-filled air where by the afternoons I can only see a short distance through what is currently being rated as extremely hazardous air quality. While all I ever want to do when I’m here is to be outside and breathe the fresh air, now I find my only retreat from the airborne grit is either behind the walls of my home and its man-made air filters or submerged in the lake.

As everything is covered in ash, which appears an enormous challenge, I must remind myself, there is no large or small in the kingdom of the Divine. Nature knows how to take care of herself, which is a good thing because there are not enough fans in the state of Montana to blow all the smoke away and where would be “away” anyhow? I must trust in a higher power prevailing here.

Sometimes in our personal lives, situations occur that obstruct our vision by the soot of what looks like life as it’s burning out of control. The conflict with feeling the need to fix and just observing what you think is your gain going up in flames is a common one.  The outside pressure impacts our lungs, making it difficult to breathe as anxiety-filled concerns create a challenge to thinking clearly. What then do we do when there is no apparent answer in human sight and every potential remedy we can think of in our smallness remains inadequate? One must do what they can to get out of imminent danger and then, with pure unadulterated conviction, know there is a higher power that sees beyond the smog filled sky. Nature knows how to put out the fire. Soon, the refreshing rains from the heavens will cleanse the air and raise the phoenix from the ashes of our lives. And in the chaos, the ruin, there will be Good. So in the meantime, I must trust and listen to my inner guidance just as all the animals of the forest do as they weather the natural firestorms of life.