Whispers of the Wild
How a night by the river and the crackle of a fire served as good medicine.
The river was higher than normal this past weekend, thanks to all the rain we’ve had. The two small beaches my friend and I occasionally visit there had disappeared under water.
Undeterred, we searched for another spot and finally found one maybe half a mile down the trail, which wasn’t an issue, except I was lugging an off brand Duraflame log, a stool and a couple of other items. But the spot we found was worth it.
It had a gazillion anthills and we had to construct our own fire pit (see above), but it worked out in the end. My friend and I were there to unwind – to escape the city and just be.
The swollen river rushed by, carrying large pieces of debris past us. A few boats sped downriver, causing the wake to lap against the shoreline. Birds chirped, presumably to warn their friends that intruders were in their midst. Some sort of creature (I’m going to call it a beaver, but I’m a city boy, so what do I know?) trolled the river’s edge. And as nightfall approached, coyotes (or wolves?) howled in the distance (on the other side of the river, thankfully).
It’s pitch black under that canopy, which makes the contrast of the fire all the more cozy (and necessary) for conversation. Although, “cozy” is probably the wrong word. The stool I brought was far too low to the ground for my 57-year-old body, so I ended up standing half the time (why tempt the ants?). But the popping and crackling of a fire is good medicine, and this one was no exception. It allowed my friend and I to settle into conversation.
I didn’t know this, but according to this guy, “Fires pop and crackle because the moisture that is stored within small pockets of the wood fibers turns to steam in the lit wood. The trapped gasses eventually build up enough pressure to find a way to burst out of the wood. Firewood with a lower moisture content will pop and crackle much less than wood with a higher one.”
Maybe this is why sitting around the fire with somebody is so conducive to good conversation. The stuff we bring to the fire – the troubles and pain and suffering that is trapped inside – bursts out of us as the fire mesmerizes us. We crackle and pop as it comes out, but there’s a refining beauty, healing and understanding in that.
A quote from Elisabeth Elliot’s book, Suffering Is Never For Nothing, seems to fit here. She wrote: “The deepest things that I have learned in my own life have come from the deepest suffering. And out of the deepest waters and the hottest fires have come the deepest things that I know about God.”
As our fire died out on the riverside, only embers remained. We dumped some wet sand and water on them, then made the trek back to the car. After walking through fifty gazillion (yes, I’m using that word twice in one article) spider webs, we exited the woods, feeling a little lighter than when we had entered them.
Here are some tidbits you might find interesting this week:
“When the Lord opens your eyes and you suddenly realize who you are and who He is, it’s a whole different world.” -Vincent Damon Furnier (otherwise known as Alice Cooper).
If you are a writer, consider joining this free challenge to write 1,000 words every day between June 1-14.
Loved this article by James Magruder: Recapture Your Sense of Wonder.
Good stuff from Jillian Hess about writing in the margins of books: “For those of us who love books, writing in the margins offers a way to be in conversation.”
One of my favorite bands, Over the Rhine, is getting set to release a new album of hymns. And part of me really wants to buy the LP. I don’t have a record player, though. Maybe this is a good reason to get one.
When Lee isn’t writing essays, devotional books, or Christian fiction, he is a freelance editor, as well as a freelance journalist who has written hundreds of articles for various newspapers and magazines. He’s also a fan of NASCAR, baseball, tennis, books, movies and coffee shops.
As usual you've brought to life old memories and sitting around a campfire brings many to life. I had no idea about the snap and crackle so further research is necessary. Also the Elisabeth Elliot quote is beautiful. I know those fires of trial well. Thank you so much for the subscribe. I feel a deep connection to your writing.
As always, you make me remember something - this time, the day Alice Cooper attended the church my family was attending for a season. It was so wild because it was like - hey, that guy looks just like Alice Cooper but no, surely it couldn’t be bc we didn’t know he was a Christian. But as it happened, it was later confirmed. Here’s the link to the article our then-pastor wrote about it: http://www.northescambia.com/2015/03/viewpoint-the-day-that-alice-cooper-came-to-church