Regeneration: a prayer

Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California are on fire. The smoke in Portland is so thick that the highway department is considering closing some roads and bridges. I spent the weekend in the woods east of Portland, at an annual event called "Women in the Woods." We ended the weekend with a rain dance and a prayer for rain, and while the forest is still very beautiful, the drought is like nothing anyone has ever seen before, and the smoke is so thick in the air that people are getting nose-bleeds and headaches. Some people have lost all they have. Three fire fighters have lost their lives. Countless animals are being incinerated as I write this. 

This tiny tree growing from a "nurse stump" is a good image for the regeneration I hope will come after the rains we pray for.