As I said in my last post, 2020 has been a garbage fire of a year. Each day is something new that is scary, bizarre or on any level of insane.
I like to say that "the best prize is a surprise" (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) but waking up each day in 2020 is an attempt to prove that wrong.
It can even feel difficult to revel in the joy or happy things that come along in the year because it is pushed aside by fear, concern, and anger that comes with the rising challenges of the year.
On some level, all of us has been touched by the flames and embers that rage with the rise of each new social media post or government regulation (or lack thereof depending on where you fall in opinion). And it isn't even fire season yet.
Each year around my birthday and the first of the year, I get very reflective. They are both the starts of new chapters and are about 6 month apart so they are properly spaced for mental check-ins.
Last year, I posted on my birthday about how we should always have hope. Hope for change or becoming better, whether we are on a steady rock or lost on the ocean. My family was vacationing on the beach during my birthday so my views very much looked like this:
This year, we drove to the west side of the state for camping and time with Corey's family around my birthday. While driving, I was thinking again how hope is again the most important thing that I learned this year of life, as I did the year before. But I didn't really know how to put it into words to share any new or added insight.
Well the camping trip was full of learning opportunities, as we are two inexperienced adults with a puppy trying to live out adventures. But one of the opportunities came when we did a hike that was not oringinally planned.
We climbed a mountain called Norse Peak in the Mount Baker-Snoqualamie forest. The bulk of the climb took us through a previously burned area
There were many blackened trees still scarred by the damage that had been done likely several years earlier. They were just dried sticks that were remnants of the past.
But alongside them were:
Wildflowers, green grass sprouting and whatever the green plant is. Still don't know what it is but I am obsessed with it now. Despite the scarring effects of the fire, growth is happening. In some ways, the fire allowed for the growth to happen. Even the burned out trees were starting to flake off their charcoaled bark and starting to show the fresh new skin of a young tree once again. Corey and I both remarked how amazed we were to see the contrast of the growth along side the scars and burns.
Sometimes, traumatic events happen. Whether they are the result of a nationwide pandemic, economic failures, or more individual based events. That is the result of living and being human. But they are not to punish or to harm us. As much as it may feel that way. The forest did not do anything wrong to have the fire happen, but rather it is the result of more natural forces. But growth is still possible. Growth is needed after these events. These events allow for growth.
In discussing the coming events of the Second Coming, Malachi chapter 3 states:
And he shall sit as a arefiner and purifier of silver: and he shall bpurify the csons of dLevi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an eoffering in righteousness.
The process of refining a metal such as gold or silver is to place it in heat until all of the impurities burn away. And the way that you can tell this is by being able to see yourself in the metal. So when the Lord is sitting as a refiner and purifier, he is looking to see himself in us.
Change and growth are not comfortable. Hence the term "growing pains". But that does not mean that it is not worth it. I often have kids at work tell me, "It's so hard though!" when I ask them to work on a skill like tying shoes or buttoning. My go to response to this is, "We have to work on it so that it is no longer hard." We have to go through the hard times of practicing our Christ-like attributes, relationship with the Savior, and conversion to the gospel so that it becomes more easy to be like Him. This means going through the fire of burning out our impurities to make them become new.
This does not mean that there will not be a lasting effect of our experiences. There may be wounds that take years to heal. But healing comes as we rely on the Savior and use the full power of the Atonement. We allow his balm to cover our wounds and use his assistance to grow and change for the better.
The 3rd verse from the Hymn "Did You Think to Pray" says:
When sore trials came upon you,
Did you think to pray?
When your soul was full of sorrow,
Balm of Gilead did you borrow
At the gates of day?
The Balm of Gilead is what was used in Old Testament times to heal wounds.
The best person to understand our pains is the one who has truly felt all of our pains. The one to tell that you are struggling, is the one that knows why you need to struggle. Who has felt your struggles. He can help you heal. He can plant new seeds in your wounds. He will help us develop wildflowers and greenery while we are still healing the scarred trees in our hearts.
