WILDFIRE! --well, not exactly.

Today, it is colder where I live in Florida, than it is where my parents live in Colorado. That is not usually the case, by any means! But my wife and I really do enjoy the few days that we get here when the temperature dips a little towards what most of the rest of the nation routinely experiences every winter. And so while many people here are complaining about the cold, Nan and I don't mind at all that it dropped down around the freezing mark last night.

After all, it does give us the opportunity to use one of the "perks" our apartment affords us--our fireplace. Our apartment is on the third floor of one of the buildings in our complex. And as a reward for climbing all those stairs to get here, we enjoy the added features of a vaulted ceiling and a fireplace in our living room. Naturally, we get a little excited when it looks like we might actually be able to have a fire in the fireplace, without turning on the air conditioner to compensate for it!

This was the case last night. When Nan and I got home late from a meeting at our church, our apartment was pretty chilly, no doubt a result of having left the window open to let some cool weather in! So Nan suggested that I could build a fire in the fireplace with the firewood she had gotten a few days earlier in anticipation of the coming colder weather. That way we could enjoy a little quiet time together in front of a cozy fire, before bed.

And so that is what I set about to do. I am not going to detail all that I did to try to get the fire started, but let's just say that after over an hour of trying, I decided to pack it in for the night. I had about decided that the wood that Nan had gotten, must have been treated with fire repellent or something. And further, I couldn't imagine how it is that wildfires are such a problem when I couldn't even intentionally start a fire in my own fireplace! So I woke Nan up--she had fallen asleep waiting on the couch--and we headed to bed.

This morning I awoke with renewed determination and once again set about the task of building a fire. This time with great success (see photo below, as documented evidence).

Once again I was secure in my masculinity. I had made fire and was confident that if Nan and I were ever stranded on a remote island somewhere that I could do it again--if I had a big enough box of matches!

And what did I learn? I found out that it isn't always easy to keep something burning. You have to keep feeding it. And the more you feed it, the hotter it gets and the more it spreads. And so it is with us on so many levels.

What's burning on the inside of you? And what are you doing to keep that fire--that passion--alive? As you go forward into the new year, remember if you want it to live, you have got to feed it!

Have a blessed 2009!