A Spark

We love to host nights around the fire pit here at Interyear. We all sit and roast marshmallows, share stories, play games. There’s something magical about joining others in a close circle and spending time together. There have been many times where we’ve spent hours chatting and hanging out into the darkness of night. While I love spending time with the people around me, I always pay extra attention to the fire, watching carefully to see if it’s going out or is too intense. I’m basically the Goldilocks of fire pits — I have to make sure everything is just right. 

One of the most interesting things to me about fire is the embers that sit under the flames. If you sit by a bonfire or fire pit long enough for the fire to die down, you can still revive the whole thing if some glowing embers remain. You just need to breathe on it and add some more fuel to the fire, bringing it back with a spark, a breath, and a bit of paper. 

I think of hope like a spark — like a nudge that reminds you that things aren’t as they should be, that there’s still a potential for more. For something different and better. Something whole. A potential to flourish, not just to survive. If there’s air moving around the spark, it can grow and fan up into a flame (maybe even passion!). I believe that this spark gives us strength to keep going. Hope shows us there’s another way forward, that there is more for us to live and endure. There is more beauty to see, more life to live, more flourishing to experience. Hope is an essential part of life for humans.

So, what happens when we’ve lost hope? When the spark feels like it’s gone out? 

The present suffering of our world is evident – in our own lives, the lives of those we love and know, and the lives of those we hear about on the news. And yet, In spite of the deep sorrow we are facing, I still sit here with this deep longing in my soul - this waiting - this hoping that someday, somehow, all really will be made new. Peace will win out against the anxiety we face. Joy will bloom in our lives again. Love will always win. 

Light a candle today and watch the small flame burn. Let this be a symbol for you that there’s still a spark buried deep in you, no matter how small it may feel right now. May you dare to open up (even if it’s just a small crack) and let God breathe on the spark of hope in the most unexpected ways. May we hold on to the hope that our waiting is not in vain. May we believe what scripture says to be true: God is with us.