Fire

I love fires. Like many people, I am constantly interested in and attracted to fires. Not sure why we humans have such a response to them, but when I watch a fire I think about a lot of things.

We use the wood stove as our primary heat source during the cold season, any where from September to May. It does a good job of heating the great room(kitchen, dining, living, den) and getting it warm and toasty. It draws us together, for its much nicer to be out near the fire than tucked away in a cold bedroom. The dog has staked out his spot too. He loves to be right smack dab in front of the wood stove. He will eschew his dog bed to lie down on the bare wood floor next to the fire.

A steadily burning fire is attractive in many ways. For one, it's visually appealing--I can sit and watch the flames dancing up and around a piece of wood for a long time. A couple of nights ago I watched a fire where the flames burned red and orange and then died down and a wave of blue flame rose up at the back of the stove for just an instant and then the basic red and orange flames were back. It was unusual and beautiful and it continued in that manner for while. I don't know how long, I had to stop watching and go do something else.

God used a fire to attract Moses in the desert, a beautiful and unusual fire, an eternal flame, for the bush burned, but was not consumed.Once he had Moses' attention, then He spoke to him. And God speaks through fires to me too. They are a constant parable to me. I have been building fires in my wood stove or my back yard for the last 13 years and they almost always speak to me about relationships--personal or communal.

That night as I sat on my knees and watched the shifting flame, that's when I knew... I had my next topic. I have felt dry as far as topics for a while, but now I am going write about fires and what they tell me.