From Hardship to Healing

I heard a great story a few weeks ago about a copper mine in Butte Montana, it began as an underground shaft mine and then in the 20^th century, to save costs it changed to an open pit mine.  Then in 1982 the mine ceased operations and when the pumps were turned off for the last time, the huge pit filled with water.  However, the predominant rock in the pit was pyrite and it turns out that when air and water and pyrite mix, they form Sulfuric Acid.  So, a toxic lake was created as the mining operations ceased.  In 1995 a disastrous snowstorm caused geese to lose their bearings in the storm and the entire flock landed in the toxic lake and perished, hundreds of dead geese now floating in the toxic stew.  Years later,  a brave adventurer found algae growing in the lake.  Researchers descended as this seemed impossible.  They found a black blob of bacteria that was filtering out up to 90% of toxins in the lake.  Excited to find out what the bacteria was made of they searched worldwide data bases for a match, and there was only one.  This was a bacteria found in the stomachs of geese.  The disaster had now resulted in a miracle of sorts in making the water cleaner.  Makes me think about all the times that I felt overwhelmed by disaster and sadness, it was awful.  And then I look back some years later and find that I was able to overcome, I got a little stronger, something was gained in the adventure of life.  While I don’t think we want to seek out any disasters, when we are in one isn’t the time to think about the good either, but as we get to the other side, it might be worth our while to look for any blobs nearby that have made us stronger and helped us to get clearer as a result.