#RendTheHeavens Day 3: Fr(act)ured

I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

-Genesis 9:15

Today, the waters pour down. But it seems right for the world to be gray. Misery loves company, as the saying goes. The heavens weep as I have been, on and off, for weeks.

At least it's helping to put out the fires that are ravaging the Great Smoky Mountains, where, on this day eight years ago, I was closing in on the last 80 miles of my thru-hike. Frost nipped and famished, I felt like a member of the Fellowship of the Ring, trudging over hill and dale (and through many a gale) on a quest to save Middle Earth.

This earth, you see, is part of us, and we of her. We are knit of the same fabric. Our pain is one pain. We share this hurt.

And even on the days when no rainbow is visible, we must remember the covenant. We may have to get through Mordor to get there, but in time, the world will be made new.