Thought for the Day - Dealing with night worries during fire season

The good news is we finally had some rain last week. Since returning from Scotland, smoke had dominated the sky here in western Montana, writes Rev Jon Bergen.

The skies changed to a roiling mass of clouds that gave thunder and lightning before opening up and blowing away to allow for blue overhead.

“Sometimes we get so used to breathing poor air, both physically and spiritually, that we can forget there is something better.”

placeholder image — “Sometimes we get so used to breathing poor air, both physically and spiritually, that we can forget there is something better.”

It was an odd phenomenon to come from 4200 feet in elevation back to almost sea level in Scotland. The air felt thick for the first few days, then the return to altitude and smoke left me in a state of uncomfortable breathlessness.

How like life that is, caught between something that drags us down and moments that feel almost perfect. Weather and altitude are constants in our daily living but so are the highs and lows of our emotions.

Sometimes when life gets almost unbearable, we feel breathless and wonder if we will make it.

Sometimes we get so used to breathing poor air, both physically and spiritually, that we can forget there is something better.

The smoke of life settles in and before long we just accept life as it is, but then the rain falls.

We don’t always appreciate the storms that bring more trouble into our lives but once they end and the sky clears and we can breathe again.

The psalmist gives hope, saying: “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:18). We reach bottom and find comfort to get us through.

But it is even bigger as we add Psalm 61:2 to our lives: “From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

We can feel overwhelmed and about to give up and then realize that there is that Rock that is way bigger than our world of the day.

Jesus spoke honestly when he said: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

The smoke will come and go. But hope lives on, real and enduring like the sunlight after the storm that washed the smoke away.

Sometimes just a breath of fresh air can remind us that the despair is not the end of the story.