Smoky Skies

There are times in life when everything seems to turn grey. Our cabin in northwest Montana sits in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains in every direction. For the past month the horrendous wildfires in Montana, Washington, and Idaho have caused so much smoke infiltration that you can’t see any of our mountains. Just a smokey haze that cancels all long views.

Life has been like that for many of you. Looking for direction and discernment in a mental and emotional and spiritual landscape of fog.

What is interesting for us is that we had our dear friends and first cabin guests here during this wildfire smokey time this past week. Everything we wanted to show them in the environment could not be seen. But the fellowship and moments of deep friendship were beyond our expectations.

While writing today I realized that not being able to see the physical landscape encouraged us to focus on the sacred

time we had together and to have below surface conversations that will be cherished for a lifetime.

As they left the winds shifted from the north the rains fell and the sky cleared. But more than anything, time with them cleared a lot of internal fog within me and brought clarity to many aspects of our journey, including why we have this cabin in the first place—a place of healing and refreshing. In the end, the smokey skies were part of that.

Maybe the smokey skies in your life will lead you to go deep with a friend this week as well. And when you do, I pray for the blue skies from our True North to come sweeping in bringing clarity for the next summit you will climb. Until next time…