What a beautiful video with a beautiful man. It reminds me of so many things and it rich with a variety of meanings, but the main one is that we need to be good and loving to all. The fire made me go back to childhood when we lived near heavily wooded areas, mostly pine forests. There would be fires when things got too dry. My parents taught me that the fire nourished the ground for such things as blueberry bushes, which always grew back more lushly than before. It also reminded me of the time when my best friend was traumatized when her school bus had to turn back from the road where her house was because the fire had jumped the road. Fortunately, all was well in the end. Both the beauty and the terror stemmed from the temporary destructiveness of fire. That is a good life lesson.

Christopher, I agree with you. There are situations of overwhelming damage and grievous injury that don’t allow an immediate response of joy. I think that many of us are speaking from places of privilege in that we have sufficient food, shelter, and basic safety and security. Most of us have not been caught up in a war or terrible natural disaster such as that now affecting Haiti. We don’t have to worry about our sisters being tortured, raped, killed. And yet, a daily practice of gratefulness does ultimately bring us through, no matter what, I do believe. At some point, maybe Psalm 30 :5b may have some meaning: Weeping may linger for the night; but joy comes with the morning.