And it’s not just in my home.
Smoke fills my lungs in more ways than one while I lay face first on the ground with my arms out in surrender.
Job 5 NIV
8 “But if I were you, I would appeal to God;
I would lay my cause before him.
9 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.
10 He provides rain for the earth;
he sends water on the countryside.
11 The lowly he sets on high,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He thwarts the plans of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He catches the wise in their craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
14 Darkness comes upon them in the daytime;
at noon they grope as in the night.
15 He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth;
he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.
16 So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.17 “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
18 For he wounds, but he also binds up;
he injures, but his hands also heal.
19 From six calamities he will rescue you;
in seven no harm will touch you.
20 In famine he will deliver you from death,
and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
21 You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,
and need not fear when destruction comes.
22 You will laugh at destruction and famine,
and need not fear the wild animals.
23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
24 You will know that your tent is secure;
you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.
25 You will know that your children will be many,
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
26 You will come to the grave in full vigor,
like sheaves gathered in season.27 “We have examined this, and it is true.
So hear it and apply it to yourself.”
God spoke this in my ear while I adjusted my mask and looked out the window for a sign of hope.
What do you do when there is nothing you can do?
Serve, serve serve.
Seva, meaning selfless service, was one of the first things I learned when I stepped into the world of Buddhism at 13 years old.
A teaching that had been further ingrained in me by my gurus Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass over the years.
In Sanatana Dharma, or Hinduism, this is called karma yoga, the yoga of service. It is the act of attaining God-realization through selfless service. Could there be anything more humane and wonderful?
Rain, Lord. Why must these fires rage on? Send us rain.
While I flip through books for solace, I find many many indications of Your expertise. I know it is all for good reason Lord.
And still we pray over the land as if it is in our power to extinguish what remains hidden.
We pray and we assemble and we help and we save and we surrender and we repent and we fight and we cry and we—
wait.
We hope our prayers are answered in due time and what was done is now finished.
Yet my phone rings with alarms;
and weather alerts of more wind, more fire.
So tell me, what else can we do?
When there’s nothing left to do
then to serve.
We take heed in the mercy of our God and lay it all down in front of Him.
And we wait;
until the control seems back in our hands
and we can do more.
May the Lord only bless you with Truth and Peace during this time of chaos.
-Natalia