Beauty in the Burned Place: Radical Joy Revealed

Radical Joy Revealed is a weekly message of inspiration about finding and making beauty in wounded places. We hope you'll enjoy these doorways into places that are both familiar and surprising, and we welcome your suggestions, stories, and photos. Click here to subscribe.

Beauty in the Burned Place

RadJoy Bird in a patch of springtime snow. Bird and photo by Rob Meltzer

Rob Meltzer, a longtime member of the Radical Joy for Hard Times community, writes from southwestern Colorado about a spontaneous Earth Exchange he did earlier this year:

I have been living in a cabin near Mancos, Colorado for the last two months. In my corner of the state it has been snowy and difficult to get out and hike as much as I would like to. I don't have snowshoes, so, mostly, I've been confined to roads and well-worn trails. In the last week, the world has thawed and this afternoon I ventured off-trail through the forest for the first time in a while. I walked up towards Flint Rock and decided to descend through an area of the land that was burned out by the Weber Fire, a large and fast-moving wildfire, that swept through in June of 2012. It was scary and disastrous. A large section of old growth piñon and juniper was destroyed.

On this beautiful day, nearly four years later, the sun is shining and there are signs of thawing and springtime coming. New growth is emerging. So, I spontaneously made the RadJoy Bird and said a brief prayer for this land. Tears came as I realized that this is a perfect metaphor for me at this time of my life. I feel like I have been burned out and changed forever by the radical work that I do with struggling teens and young adults and their families. I am different because of it and not entirely for the better. Now, I am preparing for another spring and a time of rebirth and new growth. Hallelujah!

(As Rob's Earth Exchange--and his own response to it--make clear, our inner lives are so intricately bound with the lives of the places we love. When we make beauty for the Earth, we heal something in ourselves.)

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Radical Joy Revealed.

Radical Joy for Hard Times is a global community of people dedicated to finding and making beauty in wounded places. Reconnecting with these places, sharing our stories of loss, and making acts of beauty there, we transform the land, reconnect people and the places that nourish them, and empower ourselves to make a difference in the way we live on Earth.

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Each week Radical Joy Revealed comes to you free of charge with inspiring stories and suggestions for living with endangered places in creative, life-affirming ways. It takes thought, imagination, and a sense of timing to uncover and write the stories, choose just the right images to accompany them, and prepare them for distribution, and we could use your financial help. Please show your support of Radical Joy Revealed by making a tax-deductible donation to our non-profit organization.

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