| While at a recent seminar, I heard a poem titled Fire, by Judy Brown. What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail of water would. So building fires requires attention to the spaces in between, as much as to the wood. When we are able to build open spaces in the same way we have learned to pile on the logs, then we can come to see how it is fuel, and absence of the fuel together, that makes fires possible. We only need to lay a log lightly from time to time. A fire grows simply because the space is there, with openings in which the flame that knows just how it wants to burn can easily find its way. As the person read this poem, I immediately thought of relationships—martial relationships. Due to my profession, I am exposed to many marital relationships. Most of the time, when marriages struggle, they have forgotten that each person needs space to grow as individuals and as a couple. Maturation is expected, even required for the continual health of the relationship. This means change will always occur—which is not a bad thing. I wish young couples understood this early in their relationship. Normally, the material or skills to move the relationship back to wholeness and fulfillment is already there, laden. What is needed is an awareness that people are constantly in process. Oaths and commitments aren’t, “I will be everything in every situation.” It is, “as I grow and become, I pledge that to you.” Blessings,  This Week’s Readings: Monday – 1 Corinthians 12 Tuesday – 1 Corinthians 13 | 1 Corinthians 14 Wednesday- 1 Corinthians 15 | 1 Corinthians 16 Thursday – 2 Corinthians 1 | 2 Corinthians 2 Friday- 2 Corinthians 3 | 2 Corinthians 4 | 2 Corinthians 5 | 2 Corinthians 6 Please pray for: An end to the Covid Crisis. Our children as they cope with world issues. All ministry events inside and outside the walls of St. Paul. Families in crisis. Loved ones battling illness. Those seeking to find their way. The St. Paul Church family. The United Methodist Church family. Our leaders, our country, and our world. |