This is Peanut Butter Brickle. You may have noticed that Digby Pancake and I didn’t post much yesterday. Well, we got to rest in air conditioning while the persons did some much needed work. And although they kept coming back to check on us, we missed them. We are never apart. Ever.

But sometimes, you realize a bigger picture. Even me. And I knew that we drove to Waverly, Tennessee to help after all of the flooding. I knew the persons wanted to help. And part of Digby and I’s sacrifice was to let them do that without guilt.

When they got back, they told us all about what happened. How the creek overflowed and washed away many homes and took many lives.

They told us how sad it was and how they worked in a home most of the day to help just one family out of many.

Their stories of the day made me think. They kept mentioning that creek. The creek that got too much water. The creek that turned from tranquil to tragic. And I wondered, in all of the sadness, if nature is speaking. Do we hear what it is saying?

The persons met someone walking after their day of hard work. Someone that had lived there many years. Someone that her mom’s home was damaged and her sister’s home. But in all of the destruction, she wanted them to go see the creek. The same creek that had brought so much tragedy had brought her joy all of her life.

And she wanted them to love it too. She wanted them to hear her stories.

She told of how she searched for fossils in the creek rocks and she picked up her favorites. She told of the many beautiful pictures she had taken on the creek. And all of a sudden, the persons’ view of the creek changed. It was speaking to them directly.

The creek wanted them to know that it was only doing what it was meant to do. Flow. And as it was flowing with too much rain, it could not contain it. The tragedy was not the creek’s fault. They could not be mad at the creek.

Sometimes things happen in our lives and we want to know who to blame. We want to know why something happened. But it is not always what or who we think. Looking at something one sided doesn’t give us the opportunity to learn.

We will tell you more about our time here next week. But for now, look at the hardships in your life once more. What did you learn?

How can you use those lessons to help someone else? Listen to your heart. It speaks, just like the creek.

–Peanut Butter Brickle