Glowing Embers

I've never owned a fireplace before, so I'm not sure how a person is supposed to feel safe going to bed at night. I didn't know if it was ok to leave some of the wood smoldering or if I needed to wait until it was completely out. Since I wasn't sure, and since I wasn't tired, I sat down with a slice of pumkin bread and enjoyed some glowing embers.

There were still two logs in the fireplace. One was almost gone, but the other was a log that was way too big to be there (another mistake I made). I decided to poke at it a little to see if it would start back up and to my surprise, I found that under some of the ashen surface a raging inferno awaited me. The coals were red hot and radiated a good deal of heat still. Almost as soon as I removed the ashen surface to expose the embers a fire erupted and is still burning as I write this. It is providing me quite a bit of heat at the moment...as well as a lesson in the life of a Christian.

My life is not an example of white-hot Christianity, just ask any of my unbelieving friends. Most of them, and hopefully all, will tell you that I'm a Christian, but some won't be able to tell you much more. Hopefully that is changing soon, but that's beside the point. The fact is that I have many ups and downs, many inconsistencies. Much of the time is spent looking ashen and gray from a spiritual standpoint.

Yet there is something wonderful about that. Like the log in my fireplace, God uses his fire poke on me from time to time, jolting me with a new wave of determination and inspiration, chastising me where he must and encouraging me where he can. And as he knocks the white and gray of sin, discouragement, and self-pity, there are red hot embers underneath. Like the blaze in my fireplace, I can catch fire again!