In the fall the hillsides of the California forest become ablaze with color. The cypress, oak and dogwood trees present shades of gold and orange leaves. The green needles of the pine trees create a beautiful frame for the brilliant colors.
Squirrels are busy hiding nuts for the winter. The grizzly and black bear are getting ready to hibernate. The mountain lions with their sleek yellow coats continue to roam the mountains and the giant mule deer graze at higher elevations. The smaller deer roam near green yards and golden fields in rural areas. The raccoons hunt during evening hours and the scrub blue jays hide food for winter and steals food from neighboring woodpeckers.
The streams are alive with salmon, trout, bass, sunfish and carp. Trickling streams giggle across pebbles and through the tall grasses as they seep into creaks and river beds. The Sacramento River begins as a babbling brook bubbling up out from under small boulders in a quiet little park at the foot of mount Shasta, but quickly becomes a rushing river with dangerous undertows as it is joined by thousands of other babbling brooks and creeks.
All of this breathtaking beauty lives in danger of one careless smoker throwing a lit cigarette butt out the window. Hundreds of thousands of acres of beauty destroyed in a matter of days. Charred corpses of wildlife lie beneath gutted stumps and black arms of once vibrant trees. Sadly some men's life's are lost during the fight to put out the flames. All because of one person who does not care.
So it is with one careless word we damage our neighbor's world (James 3:5-6).
