Smoke
I happen to believe that I’m privileged to live in one of the most beautiful regions in the country. We’re a valley filled with sunshine and blue skies for much of the year. We look over the Columbia river to foothills and mountains just beyond. We get the summer heat, and the bountiful fruit that grows in it, as well as the beauty of freshly fallen snow in the winter. And then there’s fall, with its hues of burnt amber, scarlet, and blazing yellow.
But then there’s the threshold between summer and fall. Fire season. Which in the valley, often equates to smoke season. Some years there’s just a few days here and there – a few days when the sky becomes a bit hazy and the hills not quite as clear. And then there’s years when the smoke falls like a heavy, uncomfortable blanket. When it wedges its way deep down into the valley and the mountains and hills all but disappear for days on end. It’s a suffocating experience – even for one accustomed to the polluted skies of China.
This has been one of those latter years. While fires in our immediate vicinity have been rather limited, there are enough fires to the east, and the north, and the west, and the south to supply a steady stream of smoke. In the past couple weeks there have been many days where not only were the mountains and hills not visible – but the Columbia could no longer be seen from our house.
Can I be honest? On these long, smoke-filled days it’s easy to forget what the mountains even look like. To forget their shape and majesty. However, at no point do I wake up, look out the window and say…”Oh dear, the mountains must have disappeared, they must have been wiped away. And all that’s left is smoke.” I think you would all agree with me that that would be a rather ridiculous statement.
It would be ridiculous because we all know a thing or two about mountains and smoke. Mountains are steadfast, immovable. Smoke? Is very transient. It comes, it lingers, but then it dissipates. In a few weeks – can I hope days? – it will be gone. However, while it does linger, care must be taken. On those smokiest days, it is not advised for even the healthiest individual, to be outside for great lengths of time. This is not the season to go run a marathon outside. Any length of time can result in burning eyes and throats.
As I’ve reflected on the conditions surrounding me, I’ve found a visual reminder I so desperately need. Because our lives are filled with not only physical smoke, but metaphorical smoke right now. Pain, tragedy, broken hearts, disasters, disappointments, diagnoses, imminent surgeries. Big and small things alike that alternatively cause grief and worry and fear. And these things can obscure the view of God’s greatness and His goodness. Of his sovereign, patient, loving present hand. These transient situations can so quickly obscure the steadfast truths I know of the Lord. And if I sit and linger in it, my throat and eyes start to burn.
As we’ve mentioned, Shiloh expends a fair bit of energy breathing – under the best of circumstances. Consequently, the smoky skies pose particular danger to her. We noticed soon after the smoke arrived that she would get congested, especially at night, making breathing even more difficult. And so we started running a large air purifier – and just like that, her congestion disappeared, her ability to breathe more easily restored.
In this smoky season, that is exactly what I need as well. I need an air purifier that clears out the junk and allows me to breathe. For me, this means first and foremost soaking in, meditating on, providing myself with a steady diet of truth. I need to remind myself of what the mountains look like. Remind myself of that which is immovable, so that I might have a proper perspective on that which is transient. I can be a lot more tolerant of the smoke if I am confident in the beauty that awaits once it clears.
The other thing clearing the air for me right now? Prayer. Those uttered from my lips, and perhaps even more so those spoken on behalf of our family by so many of you. My goodness we’ve needed a lot of prayer in the past three years – and I’ve learned over and over again how those prayers strengthen and undergird us on the most difficult days.
So thank you. Thank you for helping to keep us breathing in this season. May we all have eyes to see past whatever smoke fills our valleys right now to the majestic mountains beyond.
Oh my goodness…where do you live? I’m in Central Washington State and the smoke was horrible! I worried and prayed for families like yours during this horrible smoke season! (((HUGS))) to you all!