Wildfires and Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday season for me. A reminder of closeness in dependable friends and dear family. This year the wildfires raging in the mountains of North Carolina and South Carolina have given my family new perspective on gratitude as the clean air we take for granted filled with smoke.

Is it not incredible how delicate the balance of God’s creation is? After a severe drought the land combusted like a match, while the coast was hit with some of the worst flooding in decades. Two extremes. One point to make:

We humans are not as powerful or in-control as we believe ourselves to be.

A structure that took a lifetime to build will collapse in a moment when its foundation suffers from an earthquake. A people can be at the peak of power but a famine will put them at the mercy of their enemies. And anyone who has suffered through a home fire can attest to nature’s humbling might.

During times of prosperity we forget to thank God that we are not suffering. In times of blessing it is easy to rise in pride, forgetting Who brings the rain.

This holiday season is a time of reset. Thanksgiving reminds us of God’s physical provision for us. Christmas remembers the love of the Father. And when the New Year comes I remember God’s hope for my future.

Too many times I have been dragged out of spiritual focus by the world around me. But God reaches out with continual grace, forgiving and drawing me to Himself. Each new year the commitment to be more faithful must be renewed, for it is only in walking humbly in light of our flesh’s weaknesses that we gain victory.

Wildfires. They rage without and within.

Eyes to the future, the new year. What do we want our lives to look like in a year? I hope we can say that we lived out of humility and gratitude. My own sins and shortcomings are the Devil’s sharpest darts.  This year has seen its share. Fortunately God is faithful even when we are not.

What have you placed confidence in for the New Year?

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