Good morning, friends!
When I was a little girl, I think around 3rd grade, the house next door erupted in flames in the middle of the night. Some electrical wires in the basement were to blame. Luckily, smoke detectors got the family out (and the flames never reached our yard) but it was a major event in my memory nonetheless. Side note: I've been leery of poor wiring everywhere I've lived since!
Fire: it's our word for the week. Fire has several definitions but here are a few of my favorite:
Here's what I know for sure about fire: no matter how you look at it, when fire happens you can't ignore it. You can't unsee it. You can't pretend it never happened.
You smell it. You taste it. You hear it burn.
Fire electrifies. Fire projects. Fire eventually refines.
Ashes tell you later that you must rebuild from a fire -- from the ground up. Such was true of my neighbor's house. They didn't move back in for years!
In fact, a new foundation must be laid. There is no going back to the old way after a fire. Few things (if anything) are left from "before."
Today I'm wondering what is a fire in your life? What is begging for your attention right now? What challenge have you faced that there's a "no return" from?
Let me tell you this about that house burning down next door to mine-- through all the noise of the firetrucks, I slept on that night unaware! I would only see the ashes the next morning and be told of what happened.
So, maybe you see flames around you right now, maybe you don't. Maybe like me as a kid, you are sleeping through your "fire." But regardless, the morning will come and you see things differently. Something will happen in your life that will ask you rebuild bit by bit. You'll hold ashes in your hand and you'll know. It's time!
And when such happens, I hope you can see fire as a beautiful force for good in your life. This is not to say that fire doesn't come with grief, loss or pain, but in its wake, there are gifts! You hold in your hands only what you need. You get one big permission slip for something better. There's simply no pretending after a fire. You just are.
May the fire of God's Spirit be upon you this week as you move and learn and grow because of the flames of your story!
XO
Elizabeth
P.S. To those Christians who celebrate, today is Pentecost Sunday, a day of the fires of the Spirit coming down and bringing people together in powerful ways! I would love to share our service here.
