The Mess Before the Beauty
Roots, debris, secrets, smoke — all part of the path to peace
Ever notice when you start cleaning, or digging, you keep finding more dirt?
The demo and excavation of the ground under the old deck is a necessary evil to reach the goal we have in mind.
But I am impatient and detest looking at the mess this project has overturned.
Snaggled old tree roots piled in front of the healthy tree to stare at until the job is finished.
Reminds me of a metaphor for digging up the past to get to some sort of order.
Didn’t I write about this in my memoir?
How digging into my family history uncovered a similar mess. Cut or fallen tree branches strewn all over my yard. That’s a story of its own.
We are redesigning our yard with a patio meant for fellowship. We’ll be hosting family and friends for meals, book clubs and games. We even have a circular area to set up chairs around a fire pit this fall—maybe my favorite time of year.
Fires in a solo stove or in a pretty fireplace exude such peace, don’t they.
A fire in its place provides both warmth & beauty. Used to be a matter of survival too so we could cook, boil water … you know, care for a family.
An uncontrolled wildfire—now, that’s something else. Something that seems to have a mind of its own, cutting a devastating path.
These recent fires to the north of us were so pervasive that the smoke traveled miles.
Of course, anyone would rather deal with a little smokey air instead of the actual danger of the fires, yet we found ourselves, in this area, having the worst air quality… in the whole world!
I don’t think I ever used the term AQI before the last couple of weeks when I was checking the numbers hourly for a few days. For reference, today’s present number is 40. In the midst of our storm, the AQI was over 500!
I suppose I could have just looked outside to determine the safety—it was hazy enough that the sun seemed eerily eclipsed. I knew I probably shouldn’t venture out into that soupy mess. But I always wanted to know the number.
I wanted to know just when it was safe to walk around outside.
I’m kind of like that in life too.
I have a habit of excavating the past and in the digging, I kick up a lot of dust.
The air around me for years felt thick, and I don’t think it was good for the lungs.
But like the recent smoke, eventually, the dust settled and I could take a deep breath again.
We were so happy when we finally saw blue skies after a few days of the terrible AQI.
Feels good to breathe fresh air now.
And I am excited to clean up our yard. Get rid of that tangled mess.
Like dealing with some unearthed family secrets, I was finally able to clear out all the knotted debris.
When you do this, you, too, will enjoy walking a prettier path ahead [LINK TO A STORY ABOUT WALKING FORWARD].
And I bet you’ll be able to invite people over for fellowship in front of a warm, crackling fire in your yard.
[What might you feel when you read my book? Like you are able to take a breath of fresh air. My Father’s Daughter by Shell Norman.]
Praying for the people in the path of the northern wildfires to experience clear air too.🙏🏼
[Adding fuel to the creative process, i.e. COFFEE ☕is easy with that button below.]
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The fire pit is probably my favorite thing behind sunrise and sunset. We have one in our backyard (may I remind you that I live in South Florida...!) and I use it any chance I get. In fact - maybe we'll use it tonight. With rain incoming, it may just cool off enough to do it.