Today I awoke to the sound of rain! Not, generally an unusual occurrence living in western Washington State, but this summer it has been. We have been having one of the hottest and driest summers on record. I love the sun and the warmth it brings, but this year it has been almost too much. One of the problems with consistent streams of hot and dry days is the grass and other vegetation dies. Our hanging baskets full of reds, purples, blues, yellows and whites just 3 months ago are all a droopy wheat color. Our tanned grass lawns are pocked with green weeds, which somehow still manage to thrive in these near desert like conditions. But the saddest part of this record breaking summer is the wild fires just on the other side of the mountains. Thousands of acres have been burning for weeks and there has been little more that could be done. We have thousands of people helping to fight these fires, firemen from as far away as Australia and New Zealand, volunteers from Canada and all over the United States, and sadly some of these brave men and women have died while trying to save others, and many have lost homes, farms, and a livelihood.
I am amazed at the power of these two forces of nature. Fire and Water. They both provide huge benefits to mankind and the world around us. Fires gives us warmth and light, the ability to cook food to make it safe for consumption, to move us forward, and to purify things like metals and even water. Water provides sustenance, nourishment, the ability to cool us down. Water also gives us energy when properly harnessed, the ability to travel around the world, and food through the abundant populations of fish that thrive in its environs.
Yet despite these wonderful benefits, when boundaries are not in place for these forces of nature they both create massive destruction! Fire and Water offer life or death.
I think in our own lives we have forces that move us and benefits us and others, but when these forces go unchecked sometimes they can bring destruction to relationships. Are there words or actions that you use that maybe are having a harming effect on some of your relationships? Maybe you need a little rain to put out some of the fire in your soul? Take some time today to assess where your relationships are and make the changes necessary to bring them into a flourishing state.