Advent I: Getting Stoked

Sitting before a fire reconnects me to the whatever lies within and beyond. Flames dancing rhythmically lure my soul away from daily concerns to eternal hopes. The sounds and smells add to the domestic liturgy and help create a time as sacred as any worship.

Flickering flames and hissing wood cause me to rise and tend the fire. I reach for a tool, move logs, and soon the fire burns strong again. All it needed was attention, a bit of rearranging, and more air. In other words, all it needed was to be stoked.

That’s good advice for those of us seeking stronger spiritual lives. We're drawn to the fire within, the flame not of our making, and its flame dances and lures us from the mundane to the sacred, from details to purpose.

Keeping such a fire burning strong, however, requires attention, rearranging, and increased air. Like the fire before me, the flames within diminish, logs hiss, over time. It's then we're called to rise, grab a tool, and stoke the fire.

The tools are many: Reflection and prayer can increase our attention, reading Scripture, a spiritual book, or speaking authentically with a friend can rearrange the "logs" of our lives, and walking, listening to music, or attending worship or a support group can provide much needed air.

Sometimes our attention is piqued, our lives rearranged, through no doing of our own. A loved one becomes ill, jobs are lost, marriages crumble. Such struggles challenge us at our core, but such moments sometimes become the very things that cause our internal flames to burn stronger.

No matter the tool, this is the season to increase our attention, move logs, and find more air. In other words, this is the season to get stoked.