Message from an Island Forest Fire
Late one afternoon I noticed smoke rolling out of the forest. It was on a nearby island. Which at this time of year slowly becomes a peninsula as the lake level drops. Lack of overall summer rain and extreme heat slowly dries up everything, the ground, the leaves, the trees, and the lake too. We had a pretty good soaking of much needed rain last week which helped. But it didn't raise the lake any. It's dropping about a foot every few days now as the last of the summer winds down.
The smoke wasn't extreme and the wind was calm, but something to keep an eye on. As it got dark it was easier to see it was slowly burning off the underbrush and leaves on the ground. It wasn't a roaring fire. It just kept creeping along much like a controlled burn farmers sometimes do in their fields. In the middle of the night it looked like at least one or two trees caught fire. Likely standing dead trees. But it still wasn't a serious fire. Just very slowly crawling along clearing a path of change.
I had learned years ago that periodic fires are needed. It is part of nature and the balance on earth. They are important for the forests. Up in Montana they realized humans putting out all the fires eventually led to one giant uncontrollable fire. It wasn't natural to not have fires. It was better to let things do their natural course with lightning strikes and small areas would burn from time to time.
Fire can bring needed change. After a fire there are far more nutrients immediately available in the soil for the new plants to start. It rejuvenated the soil with vigor and life force. There were species of trees that were first growth. They shot up very quickly out of the ground after a fire to provide fast initial growth of the forest and did not have a long life span. As the slower trees would come along the first growth trees would die off and the forest would become the denser slower trees. The seeds of the first growth were able to lay dormant for a long time in the ground waiting for their chance and needed purpose. In Florida and Carolinas they regularly burn off the underbrush to keep the chance of a large fire down. Small underbrush fires are common in nature and help balance the forest. I kept watch throughout the night that it didn't get very serious.
As morning light came I paddled over with a bucket to look things over. The fires had spread all around the island. They were small little ones slowly burning up leaves and dead brush and an occasional dead tree still standing. It seemed like only one or two alive trees had caught fire. The fire would char a little bit of the trunk of the healthy trees and went on it's way. There were thunderstorms brewing in the area and it was possible the calm slow fires could quickly change with high winds. So I thought it may be best to be Stewards of the land like we are supposed to be, and help nature where we can lend a hand. I went around for a few hours and put out the smaller fires. Around 55 five gallon buckets did the job. Some were dying down while others were busy looking for new things to burn.
As I worked I realized there was a message here. Something to learn and see. We always think of fire as a horrible experience. We avoid chaos and change. As humans we don't understand that it is the nature of God's Earth to always be changing. We are born, live our lives and experiences, and we die. We move on to other adventures. Nothing is constant. Not these bodies, or the trees, or the land masses as earth quakes shuffle them about. Everything here is a temporary experience ever changing. Always recreating balance. Always looking for new experiences. As I carried bucket after bucket I thought of the world. I look around to the increased chaos in the human world. It's easy to be attached to the details. Perhaps the bigger picture to see is what is important. That it is time for change. Like the lightning strike starting the fire in the forests, it is time for chaos to happen, to burn the imbalance away. And after the smoke clears it will bring a rebalance and renewed fresh growth. All part of God's plan and balancing Earth. We always say Lightning comes from God. The change we are seeing is clearly his cleansing hand recreating balance and renewing earth. New balanced growth will come from the ashes.
As I finished my task I paddled away knowing all is in God's hand and all has purpose. We can lend a hand where we're led to, and it's needed.
By Spring I paddled back over and found the few burned areas last fall were abundant with new life growing between the burnt stumps and downed trees. The rest of the forest stood strong untouched by many days of fires.
God has a plan. Walking in Faith and knowing all is ever changing.