Whats In Your Hand

My fire almost went out today. I wasn’t paying attention and the heat just dissipated. I had set it up correctly earlier in the afternoon, but it just didn’t have enough oxygen or fuel.  All that was left was a few charred logs and some embers, a few were red but most were black. The raging fire I had expected was all but lost. I didn’t have enough kindling to make a new fire so I threw the last little bits I had on, gave it a bit of a fan and …. Nothing. Oh well, that was all I had, I guess we aren’t having a fire tonight.

I had walked away from the fireplace into the kitchen when I heard “Mum, Look!!!”. All of a sudden my fireplace was ablaze with flames. And as we watched, and warmed ourselves by its heat, we discovered that the extra burst of flames provided by the sticks was enough to re-ignite the logs and my fire has been burning hot ever since. So hot, that I had to take my hand away when taking this photo because it was burning me!

  

  

Who would have thought that my little handful of sticks could have contributed to this blaze. In fact, without my little sticks, the fire would definitely have gone out.

Sometimes you might look at what's in your hand and think that it isn’t much at all. In terms of a fire, maybe your little bundle of sticks wouldn’t even last a minute. You might look at others who seem to have great big logs and feel like throwing your sticks away. But can I ask you to have a look again at what is in your hand.

 Your words, your acts of service, your time, your touch, your gifts. 

Some encouragement for a friend. Helping a stranger. Washing the dishes. Buying a gift. Shouting a coffee. Simply asking “what can I do to help?”.

You never know what effect your input will have in stoking someone's fire. You might not notice when someone is being snuffed out, laden down with cares. You cant see when there's not enough fuel for them to keep going as they had been.

My fire has most definitely been stoked by each of those things recently. Words of encouragement from a friend. A stranger taking time out to help. Someone washing the dishes for me. A coffee when I really needed one. A meal paid for. A wonderful offer of “I’d like to help, what can I do?”

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou for throwing your sticks in and stoking my fire. I know you didn’t think it was much, but to me each was like a breath of fresh air, like adding fuel to the fire so I can keep doing what I do.

So look again at what's in your hand. They might look like twigs to you, but when given to someone else, they could fan into flame something magnificent, which warms many more with its continuing fire.

Donna