In my armed chair at my computer to write. I go inward seeking a flame…smoldering embers… a spark at least. Words to keep your heart and mine burning.

My blog title is On Fire: finding your gift and using it!

[ Sigh ]

Do I really want to be on fire? Do you?

The natural, set point of my heart is…cool.

I seek:

Steady-state

Comfort

Reasonableness

Safety.

On fire sounds:

Out of control

Unreasonable

Unpredictable

Dangerous…difficult.

A choice is before us:

–preserve our possessions—the condo, Lexus SC 430 and Super Air Nautique 230;

–rehearse our accomplishments—the MBA, our daughter’s graduation and our promotion to Director;

–relish familiar pleasures—sushi night at the bar, Netflix, and the once-yearly sale at Nordstrom’s;

or

enter the fray.

Finding your gifts and using them means to ask:

God, who have you made me to be?

Where is the action? Where is the mending, reconstructing, healing going on? Mogadishu? Chiang Mai? Rochester?

My kitchen table?

Are you calling me? To what and where? What have you prepared me to do?

What is the risk, the cost?

Dear reader, are you going forward with me? If so, I must first admonish you to check yourself:

–You may be done with the quest for “the good life.”

–Done being sold a cheap bill of goods. Trivial pursuits. So much less than what you were born for.

–You may yearn to spend yourself on something worthwhile—a cause matching your potential.

–But I’m warning you–you are placing yourself dangerously near the flame.

God’s heart burns with Love for men, women, and children everywhere. Every child soldier, sex slave, suicide bomber, Wall Street analyzer, and tortilla-making grandmother. Every Ukrainian farmer, hookah smoker, smart phone user and Chinese dissenter. Every church goer and non.

When you get close enough to see the gaping distance between what God wills and the reality of what people actually experience, your heart will break.

 God’s Love will sear you…change you…call you out.

You will join the fight.

Then you, too, will flame.

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…for our God is a consuming fire.     (Hebrews 12:29 NIV)

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photo credit: Velo Steve (creative commons)

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Dear Reader: this is a new Beliefnet blog. I need your help to make it a success! Would you subscribe (see bar above on the right) plus forward this post to a friend who may enjoy it? Also, I appreciate your comments.  Thank you,  Gloria

Gloria@gloriarose.com

@gloriabethrose