Fire!

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Many years ago, I started a fire. I didn’t mean to start the fire; it was an accident.  Nonetheless the fire was my fault.
 
My husband and I were newlyweds; we had only been married a few months. We lived in the country outside the city limits of my husband’s hometown. So, we country folks did not have trash pickup. We did what country folks did, we burned our trash in a heavy metal can in our yard.
 
One spring day, I was home alone, my husband at his work. The trash needed to be burned, so I carefully placed the trash in the can and lit the fire. Then I went inside our house and worked on a paper for school.
 
A little while later, there was a knock on our door. A man whom I did not recognize informed me that my yard was on fire. The man and I worked to quench the flames that were burning some grass around our home, but to no avail. The fire was quickly spreading from the tall grass to nearby woods. I went to call the fire department.
 
Our local volunteer fire fighters arrived soon thereafter. They worked hard to put out the fire that had spread to the woods.  It was a beautiful sunny spring day and also a breezy day. The wind was spreading the fire quickly. A couple of hours later, the fire truck and firefighters pulled out of our driveway only to have to return when the flames popped back up a little while later.
 
It took the firefighters a good part of the day to finally extinguish all of the flames. Most of our property had been burned, several acres. It was a day I will never forget. I didn’t mean to start the fire, yet the damage was done.

I recently heard a pastor say, “If you start a fire accidentally, you are still responsible for the fire.” Because of my trash burning experience I could relate.
 
The pastor was referring to the truths contained in the letter of James in the Bible.  James 3:5-6, 9-10 reads, “…The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell…With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”
 
I have witnessed a small spark fuel a fire that grows and grows. I have seen the damage it can do.  Just like a physical spark, our words can be so powerful. They can cause great damage and they can inspire great good. Oh God, please use our words for Your good only!

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