The beauty that is the Sierra Nevada mountain range shouts from its mountaintops the power of God. The views one can experience from the overlooks can literally take your breath away. It is one of my most favorite destinations. One of the reasons it holds my heart is this is where my daughter took her last breath. We also released her ashes into the splendor of this place. To me it represents a great picture of Heaven on Earth. It reminds me that neither height nor depth can keep me from God’s love. It is hard to imagine a spot which once represented pain and destruction that now brings me such comfort and peace.
Recently we returned to visit my little corner of peace. I knew things had probably changed. A huge forest fire swept through and burned this area for many weeks. I grappled with many emotions as we slowly drove through the destruction we were witnessing. The vastness of the mountains was still there. The beauty of them being covered with a blanket of green had been replaced by charred and fallen timber. As I looked out at the destruction of the burned out forest, it was hard not to grieve all that was. It also took me back to my first time viewing this spot. My heart had been broken and destroyed. At that time it was hard to see beyond my vision of grief.
I know that despite the damage that has been done to the area, good things come out of these forest fires. They are a natural part of the ecosystem. In a healthy forest, it too contains dead trees and decaying plants. When a fire comes barreling through, it burns these into ashes. The nutrients in this ash escape from the old vegetation and it returns to the soil that brings about new growth. It is God’s way of weeding out the dead and bringing forth new life.
I can’t help but compare this to our walk through grief. After the death of our child we are at a place where we can only see death and destruction. As we continue on through this walk we soon start seeing tiny shoots of new growth . We let things that no longer matter become ash. We are a different person than we were before we walked through the fire of grief. The memory of the charred and fallen timber will always be with us. The memories of that barren time will help us to recall how God has brought forth a renewed landscape. Where once was destruction, we find new life. We soon find ourselves shouting from the mountaintop as we experience God’s love. We can say, “When we walked through the fire we were not burned: the flames did not set us ablaze. We are a new creation!”
– Michele
