It was a cold, blustery morning, and Eddie had built a fire. After he left for work, I got occupied with something and let the fire die down. Atop a bed of glowing hot coals, a log lay partially burned, its upper half untouched, unmarked by the flames. There was potential in the fire place for a roaring fire. The coals pulsated with heat, the log lay atop the coals, and the damper was open, but left as it was, the warmth would have slowly cooled into a gray pile of ashes. For the log to burn, the potential that existed had to be stirred. We, too, are often filled with great potential that lies dormant within us. Something has to stir us to activate that what is into what can be. What stirs?
Trouble and pressure can drive us to a new place of motivation. In the spiritual, it urges us to seek God’s hand, then once we feel His touch, we desire to seek His face. In the natural, trouble pushes us out of our comfort zones. Loss of a job leads us to take a different career path, and we uncover talent we didn’t know we possessed. Closing the door on one relationship makes room for a better one. Trouble has a way of bringing around the surprisingly good and unexpected out of us. But trouble is not the only thing that can stir.
Encouragement and exposure are other means of stirring our potential. Someone insists we can succeed, and we attempt a challenge. We see someone else accomplish our heart’s secret desire, and we realize that achieving that goal is within reach. When encouragement and exposure pull our potential to the surface, it’s like hot coals exposed to fresh oxygen, that potential heats into a new blaze.
Within ourselves, however, is another method to stir up our potential. It is prayer. Where trouble comes from life, and encouragement and exposure depend on another's influence, prayer is our own fire poker. In prayer, we find alignment with God's will for our lives, and as a result, ignite the potential that He put within us. Because of prayer, the fire doesn't have to burn out; it can stay ablaze to bring warmth and beauty to the lives of others.
Tip/Tidbit: It’s much easier to rekindle a fire than to start one from scratch. Scripture says to “stir up the gift within you.” What is lying inside you that needs to come to life? Stir that potential today with prayer.
Trouble and pressure can drive us to a new place of motivation. In the spiritual, it urges us to seek God’s hand, then once we feel His touch, we desire to seek His face. In the natural, trouble pushes us out of our comfort zones. Loss of a job leads us to take a different career path, and we uncover talent we didn’t know we possessed. Closing the door on one relationship makes room for a better one. Trouble has a way of bringing around the surprisingly good and unexpected out of us. But trouble is not the only thing that can stir.
Encouragement and exposure are other means of stirring our potential. Someone insists we can succeed, and we attempt a challenge. We see someone else accomplish our heart’s secret desire, and we realize that achieving that goal is within reach. When encouragement and exposure pull our potential to the surface, it’s like hot coals exposed to fresh oxygen, that potential heats into a new blaze.
Within ourselves, however, is another method to stir up our potential. It is prayer. Where trouble comes from life, and encouragement and exposure depend on another's influence, prayer is our own fire poker. In prayer, we find alignment with God's will for our lives, and as a result, ignite the potential that He put within us. Because of prayer, the fire doesn't have to burn out; it can stay ablaze to bring warmth and beauty to the lives of others.
Tip/Tidbit: It’s much easier to rekindle a fire than to start one from scratch. Scripture says to “stir up the gift within you.” What is lying inside you that needs to come to life? Stir that potential today with prayer.
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