Had enough yet! As I sit here in my office this afternoon I am keenly aware of the beautiful sunshine that peeks in my office window. Of course it is 36 degrees outside, but the sunshine! I wonder how the people in Alaska and the Northwest Territory can stand the time of the year where the sun peeks over the horizon for just a few hours a day. There is something about darkness that draws us in. I remember going to haunted houses when I was a teenager. I remember actually paying someone to walk me through a dark area and scare me. That seems so foreign to me now, but then it was great fun. What is it that causes us to walk into a dark place and expect something scary to happen? I can also remember times when I went into the haunted house and was not scared. I always felt ripped off when I wasn’t just a little bit scared. I also remember times when I was doing my best to be grown up when I would run back from the dark corner of the back yard, or the streets edge after depositing the trash by the curb or in the alley behind our house.

I am really looking forward to some more sunshine and spring days which are promised to come. The gloom of the winter and the darkness of days on end without sunshine have had an effect on my mood and even on my spirit. I think there is a lesson to be learned in all of this winter weather. There are times that we head off into the darkness to share a little light with those who are struggling on the journey. We are at work, in the community, and we encounter darkness. We do our best to show a light that comes from our spirit that overcomes the darkness. We have always been told that it only takes a spark to get a fire going. We have been told that if even one candle is burning in a room the darkness flees from it. This is surely true because we have seen it with our own eyes. But like fires and candles the flame is consuming the energy that it takes to keep the flame alive. After hours or days the wood of the fire or wax of the candle is consumed and the fire dies. We must draw back to the source of our light for the energy necessary to keep our light burning inside.

In order to keep our fire burning we must gather, worship, and pray unceasingly throughout our day. Worshiping is not something we only partake in on Sunday morning. Worshiping is a daily experience with the One True God. On our own we do not have what it takes to keep the fire within kindled to fend off the enemy and we too feel a sense of cooling. Jesus is waiting for us to call upon Him. Jesus comes in the form of the Holy Spirit as a mighty rushing wind. Jesus wants to stoke the fire within us and give energy to our waning spirit.

As we move toward spring I encourage you to call upon the Lord every day and to ask for the Spirit’s power to see you through the darkness. When we meet in small groups, build each other's smoldering coals and replenish the energy necessary to build back the fire. When we worship together, reach out to those who have been consumed by the darkness and offer them the spark that will set their lives ablaze again. We need each other as never before in this world of hardship and turmoil. Let Christ breathe into you the fire of this Lenten season. In Matthew 12 Jesus is quoting the book of Isaiah when he shares with us these words, "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope."

Our job then is to do as Jesus did. We are to be building up those who are bruised and re-kindling those who are smoldering. Go a build a fire this week to shatter the darkness. If you need help building a fire, give me a call.

Grace and peace,
Kirk