A Note of Encouragement

A Note of Encouragement

You may recall the fires that raged in Southern California last October. Our car was packed and ready to leave at a moment's notice. Many communities, including ours, were without power. Camp lights were pulled out of storage, as I watched my cell phone's charge dwindle and waited to hear of evacuation orders. It was a long couple of days.

After the dauntless firefighters had gained control of this emergency, I took this picture of a hill side which had been charred right up to the structure sitting at it's top. Blackened tree trunks were all that remained of the once healthy green trees at the side of the road.

(Subtle color palette of browns and grays against the blue sky,... very beak.)

On the surface, you would think there is nothing there. But December brought rain. 

And in March fields of yellow, dotted with flecks of blue, where once it looked like nothing would ever grow again. (The charred trees are to the right of this picture.)

These are trying times, so I thought we could all do with a little message from nature: an eternal promise of renewal and growth is present, like the return of spring, even if it's not apparent in the middle of a challenge. As Abraham Lincoln said, "...let us confidently hope that all will yet be well."