When the fire is low
Our summer holiday began as the heatwave ended. After initially stamping my foot, I switched to autumn holiday mode and as the nights got colder, we lit a fire. Have you ever sat chatting around a fire, unrushed, watching the flames dancing, faces lit up by firelight?
One afternoon, we got the fire blazing after tea and then left it when we went for supper. When we came back, all that remained was some blackened wood and a few wisps of smoke. It looked dead but Ben took the poker and shifted the charred remnants and beneath it, the embers were glowing red-hot. A few kindling sticks, another log, a breath from Ben and the fire was back to life.
How is your fire for God? Has lockdown made it cool down? After six months of masks and virtual church, how do we keep our spiritual fire blazing? God spoke to me through that fire and I was reminded that God dwells in us and his love for us never grows cold. Like those red-hot embers, it can quickly reignite our love for him. As I was thinking around this, I read Luke 22 where Jesus says, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover Feast with you.” I wonder do you know that Jesus eagerly desires to spend time with you, to eat with you, to share himself with you? It was that fervent desire for us that sent Christ to the Cross.
When our fire is burning low, the starting point is to reconnect with God’s burning love for us. Then, add some fuel. What fuels your fire? Please do comment and share. On what would have been the anniversary of Trevor’s 60th, my sons put together a podcast of his talks which they have called, “Hearts on Fire with the Love of God.” That’s what we were made for – to have our hearts on fire with God’s love.
Finally, we need the breath of God’s Spirit. I won’t forget watching Ben gently blowing on the fire and watching the flames rise. Like a fire needs oxygen, we need the breath of the Spirit. I heard about a factory that was set on fire and at the end, they discovered a box of firelighters, strangely untouched. It was because they had been shrink-wrapped – even though they were obviously inflammable, they needed oxygen to make them burn. So, for us, we cannot shrink-wrap our faith and hide it away; we have to have our lives laid out before God, open to the breath of the Spirit.
Holy Spirit, breathe on us that our lives may blaze with your love.
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With thanks to Jarl Schmidt for the picture on Unsplash.
