“Blessed is the crisis that made you grow, the fall that made you gaze up to Heaven, the problem that made you look for God.” (Saint Padre Pio).
My husband’s lifelong dream – apparently – is to visit Fraiser Island and go four-wheel driving there.
I say “apparently”, because I only started hearing about this lifelong dream from him a few years ago. I say this also because my husband migrated to this country in his late twenties, and I find it difficult to believe that he even knew what Fraiser Island was before he moved here. But regardless of whether this was the dream of a lifetime or the dream of a moment, this is certainly a dream that my husband has right now.
In our family, I joke often about this dream. You see, Fraiser Island is famous for three things. The first is sharks. It is the most heavily shar-infested water in Australia, and it is well known that it is unsafe to swim in the beautiful beaches there. The second thing that Fraiser Island is famous for are the crocodiles. As with all beaches in far norther Queensland, the crocodiles are serious and common risk in the area. Crocodiles can swim through the ocean from one beach to another and have been known to swim thousands of kilometres back to their original home after having been re-homed for being problematic to humans in the area. And the third thing that Fraiser Island is famous for is the dingos. Dingos are Australian wild dogs, and they roam prolifically across the Island.
In fact, dingoes are an increasing problem on the Island because they have now become conditioned to approach humans and consider humans as a source of food (particularly because humans frequently camp on the Island and have unsafe practices in relation to storing their food and therefore leave temptation for the dingoes to approach and eat the food left out). And the problem with dingos is that they hunt in packs, they are sly and sneaky creatures and they have been known to attack humans – particularly children, as they have instincts to hunt for the weakest member of the herd...
However, dingos also serve a purpose. They are an opportunistic predator and they help to keep the ecosystem in check and balance. In South Australia the great dingo wall has been constructed. This wall is longer than the Great Wall of China. On once side of this fence, dingos roam and on the other there are no dingos. What they have discovered is that on the side of the fence that has the dingos, the landscape is green and flourishing. However, on the other side, the landscape is dry and barren. And this is because the dingos – as problematic as they can be – serve an important purpose in the eco system.
And I have been reflecting on that today, because it occurs to me that all the trials in my life are like those dingos. And just as the dingos are problematic, so too are the trials. And just as the dingos serve a purpose in their ecosystem, so too do trials serve a purpose in my life…
And I have been thinking about that today. For Saint Padre Pio said, “Blessed is the crisis that made you grow, the fall that made you gaze up to Heaven, the problem that made you look for God.”
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.