Day 10 ( embers)

I think that quite probably, if I hadn't become a Christian I would have become an arsonist 💥 I absolutely love fire.  For a large part of my life I have lived in properties with open fires and I like nothing better than sitting prodding and poking and fixing and fiddling with the contents of the grate.  Not for me the kindling sticks, firelighters and smokeless coal.  Oh no!  I go out with the dog into the highways and byways armed with a large bag and come back having raided the hedgerows for miles around of all the dead wood.  I was most excited the other day whilst parked beside a large plot of
waste ground to let the dog out, when I realised that someone had dumped a silver birch tree and a large conifer, all chopped up into fairly large logs :)  I filled the car with sections of tree and brought them home for the fire.

I tend to light the fire even when its not particularly freezing outside , just because it is so lovely to look at and smell and there's nothing quite like the warmth a real fire gives.  A radiator or electric heater doesnt cut it.  But when you burn mostly wood ( I do use some coal but not much) on an open fire as opposed to a stove, you do find that you have to give it lots of attention.  I have become an expert at rekindling the dwindling embers.  Mostly by blowing on them.  Often quite vigorously and for quite some time. And tonight as I was blowing life into the fire this verse came to mind

Many years ago I went to stay with recently married friends of mine.  We had sat up beside the fire into the wee small hours and gone to bed very late.  We got up late and had breakfast and then, thinking Id make myself useful, I offered to clean out the grate and re set the fire for that evening.   I took a few sheets of newspaper and placed them on the rug in front of the fire and began to shovel the ashes onto the paper.  I then folded the ashes up ready to take them out to the bin, but when I lifted the paper bundle the carpet came too!   The heat from the still warm ashes, whilst it hadnt scorched or burned the paper, had been enough to melt a hole in the acrylic rug - which had been a wedding present from a much loved aunt!   It had not occurred to me that ash could retain so much heat for such a long time.  Now, being a more experienced fire setter, I know that a coal burning fire can still be rekindled a good 12 hours after it apparently ' went out'.  

There have been a couple of times in my life when my faith has been on the verge of extinction.  Not out.  Not dead.  But almost.  And in those times I have been very well aware that there is nothing that I can do to alter that situation.  When we are smouldering and stuttering and struggling to manage even a spark of life, the only thing which will bring us back from the brink is the gentle but powerful life giving breath of God.   He breathes on us, fanning the flame back into being .  It takes time, focus, dedication and a sense of purpose.  Anyone who has watched a survival programme on the telly will know that the most important thing is to keep the fire alive and that this involves vigilance and care and constant attention.  God watches over your life with just such care.  He will not let your flame go out.  And  as I learned the hard way from my melted rug disaster, embers can have life much longer than we think ! 

This Christmas time let's open ourselves up to the Ruach breath of God .  Let's be patient and wait as He blows on the things which have died down in us, things which perhaps used to burn brightly but now appear to be ashes.  Perhaps some of our dreams have faded.  Maybe we have got gifts and talents which we used to use for God but which have been set aside for one reason or another.  Maybe our prayer life is dwindling or our courage in the face of opposition is vanishing fast.   Perhaps we need a strengthening in our resolve to resist temptation or just more passion for a lost and hurting world.  Whatever we need, there is always more.