There is nothing like sitting around a fire. My day might be crazy and the stress overwhelming, but pulling up a chair and sitting by the fire seems to make the cares of this world disappear.
Many evenings I am the first one outside. I grab some oak and stack it in the fire pit. Then I go back and find lightered wood and pine to stuff under the pieces of oak. Sometimes the flame starts easily, but other times it’s a struggle to just catch the wood on fire.
I love it when the fire begins to build, though. The once small flame grows and spreads, eventually overtaking each piece of wood. Before long, the fire is roaring, providing heat, comfort and relaxation to all around. After a while, the embers begin to glow under the larger pieces of wood. The flames change from orange and yellow to red and blue with rhythmic motions, like a hypnotic dance. The longer it burns, the hotter the flames; the hotter the flames, the hotter the coals and embers.
By this point in the evening, I am usually playing in the fire with a poking stick. The larger pieces of wood are burning up and there are tons of glowing embers in the bottom of the fire pit. I love to take my poking stick and stir up the embers. Every so often the heat from the embers catches another piece of wood on fire. Sometimes the embers have grown so hot that my stick catches on fire.
Tonight, as my family sat around and enjoyed the quiet calm, I found myself playing in the fire and stirring up the embers; trying to bring life to flames that once burned brightly, but have since burned out. The more I stirred, the more the flames flickered. It’s so exciting watching those new bursts of light ignite and grow.
I also enjoy playing in the fire of life. I love to throw out ideas, match people with projects, and plant seeds in people’s souls. It’s a daily joy to stir the embers and watch sparks begin to fly in conversations I have with others. They get excited, their eyes begin to glow, and then they realize that they can do it! All of a sudden, glowing embers turn into a fresh spark and someone is set on fire.
And did you know that it is contagious? One flame lights another, and another, and before long, all of the dead embers and pieces of wood are revived and shining brightly. We get the chance to stir the embers, light up a life and potentially set the world one fire!
Don’t you want to be that kind of influence in someone’s life? Don’t you want to be the one who encourages, speaks life, and helps transform? Don’t you want to plant seeds of hope, confidence, enthusiasm and joy? I know I do.
As we go about our week, let’s stir up the embers in others’ lives. Let’s remind people of what they were made to do and speak life to the glowing embers that rest deep within their souls. Oh that those embers would grow and awaken a flame that would change the world.