Keeping Some Perspective

Every morning, I'm hopeful to see something different, but until we at least get some rain, I fear we will have more of the same. We are thankful that we have an air purifier and not much requiring us to be outside.

It was sad, though, to check the update and learn the confirmed death toll has been raised to 12. What we formerly called The Bear Fire, now referred to as “The West Zone of the North Complex” has burned 72,500 acres with 7% containment. The larger North Complex has burned 252,313 acres at 21% contained across multiple counties.

I’m not sure that living in another state is necessarily the answer. The latest statistics I can find for Hurricane Laura in the Gulf States put the fatalities at 14 and estimates up to $12 Billion in damages. Last year, flooding in the Midwest caused upwards of $1.3 Billion in damages in Iowa and Nebraska, with 3/4 of the state of Nebraska being declared a disaster area, and with 3 deaths. And that’s just a few of the recent natural disasters in the continental US.

Earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones, volcanoes, famine around the globe means that there is really no place on Earth that is exempt from what the Bible refers to as “the Earth groaning.”

Not to be a pessimist here, I prefer to think I’m a realist. But it helps me keep in perspective that we are not the only place experiencing suffering. It doesn’t make the suffering less real, but it certainly helps me adjust my focus away from myself.

*cross posted from my photo blog