Burning the Woods

Such a beautiful sunny warm spring Sunday had me itching to do some yard work. Sometimes it is just good to get your hands dirty and be outside enjoying a great day. There was this pile of dead wood behind the shed, and rather than carry it all over to our fire pit and chop it into small pieces, I decided to make it easy and burn it in place. So I raked what I thought was a nice fire break around it, piled it up and set the mess on fire. It was burning nicely and I was thinking it would get done real quick so I could throw more on it and get the whole area cleaned out. Soon I was distracted by the sounds of some 70’s funk rock coming from Bob’s truck as he drove down the lane behind the garden. He stopped and as we were talking and listening to this amazing music, I turned around and noticed that the wind had picked up and suddenly large patches of the woods were now on fire… which was never in my plan at all! When I turned, I saw Denny hurrying toward the fire so I grabbed my rake and started beating it. Bob and Robert helped by stamping on it and kicking dirt on it and Denny had a shovel, so finally we got it under control. I had to bust out the water hose to ensure that we would not have to worry about something catching in the middle of the night and burning the shed down. I pretty much destroyed our vintage plastic and metal rake – it melted about halfway through and all the metal tines fell out. It was actually pretty comical when i was beating the ground with this gooey melted plastic mess attached to a handle.

This whole thing got me thinking about how quickly things can spread the moment your back is turned. All it takes is one gust of strong wind and BAM! A wild fire has begun. Isn’t it interesting how James warns us of the dangers of the tongue. In many respects, our tongue is like a fire. Used properly it provides heat and light, but when it gets out of control, look at what damage it can do.

James 3: 2-13
If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life. A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything – or destroy it! A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue – it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you? Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.

All of us speak negatively about other people. Often, it’s not even intentional but it just slips out. Other times, though, we just relish sliming someone. My desire is to be a man who always speaks well of others, who keeps opinions to myself (especially when I don’t like someone or their actions), or better yet, be a man who prays for that person who irks me. Life is far to short for me to run my mouth all the time about people (unless I am praising them!). And I have also learned that one small thing that I say, taken wrongly or heard out of context, can strike a spark and blaze into a huge fire. It’s a difficult task when you are as opinionated as I tend to be, but hey, I am working on it, so someday I may yet achieve this goal!