Tending the Fire

Inside our condominium in Florida, we have a fireplace. I know, that sounds strange, especially when you consider that the parsonage does not have one, and it’s in Maine! One of our favorite things to do is to sit by the fire and read or just stare into the flames and listen to the logs crackle. Doing that is very relaxing. I have learned over the years that if you do not tend the fire, it slowly burns out.

Tending the fire, requires securing fuel for thefire. No fuel, No Fire. The kind of fuel determines the quality of the fire; hard woods are superior and do less

damage to your chimney. The fire burns best when the logs touch each other, and if bedtime is approaching and you want the fire to die out you stop adding fuel and separate the remaining embers. You control the intensity

of the fire. I have observed after interacting with thousands of folks, that some of us experience stress in our lives. No matter how spiritual we are, stress and fatigue can cause us to revert to our old ways of compensating. We reboot to the default. We all are thinking, emotional, physical, social and spiritual beings. For some of us emotion is the default. Stress triggers emotional response and that response is often expressed in anger. The Bible knows this. It doesn’t forbid anger. It tells us to not hurt each other in anger. It’s not ok to say, “Well that’s just the way I am” and then go on and hurt people. We separate the logs in our fire. At the point of anger, if we’ve been tending the fire we can draw on one of those good hardwood logs to fuel the flames of love, acceptance and forgiveness. As you know love covers a multitude of sins. You might be asking “How do I do that?” Start by daily praying this simple prayer found in Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” NIV God will reply and when He does, think about it and then repent, turn away from your ways. You will find, in that moment- Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness. When you receive it give it to THAT person. Tend the fire. In the coming months I will write more about tending the fire and what kind of logs are necessary to produce an intense life changing fire.

PASTOR BRIAN SHORE