Fire meditations

Last week was quiet for me. The first four days were rainy, cold and good days for a fire.

I enjoy building fires in the fireplace…or even the fire pit in the yard. But, indoors, a fire is comforting to me. I enjoy watching a Hallmark or Lifetime sappy movie or reading a book, drinking tea or hot chocolate, tending the fire and sometimes roasting marshmallows as the fire dies down. It is an ideal time for just being.

Anyway, one of the feathers floating through my brain was about the process of creating a good fire to lounge about. The first step for me is to clear the fireplace of old ashes from previous fires and making sure the flue is open. This is akin to clearing out old thoughts and ways of thinking to make ready for the new…the changes.

The second step is to go to the woodpile and select the wood to be used in the fire. I always try to get plenty of pieces…looking for those pieces more easily burnt as well as dense pieces for putting later on the hot fire and those small pieces to use as fire starters. Sometimes the wood is damp or wet even though it is covered. Sometimes there are bugs…in SC that usually means roaches. So, not only do I need to select the wood, I need to be sure that I am not carrying bugs into the house. I do this by knocking the wood against the ground. In cold weather the bugs are sluggish and fall right off. This step is similar to preparing for a change…getting ready as in getting all the tools together or as in making sure you have all the ingredients needed.

The next step is to carry the selected wood to the house and pile outside of the back door. I cover this wood even though it is stored under the house eave as wind and rain can blow into this area and make the wood less useful for a fire. I then select the fire starting wood and one or two of the more easily burning pieces to take into the house for the fire. I lay them into the fireplace in such a way that there will be a draft to cause the flame to grow and catch the wood. Underneath, I put crumpled up paper. And then I light it. If I have chosen well, the paper will catch and burn well enough to get the lighter wood to catch fire. This represents the first step in doing something new…or making a change. Sometimes it works right away…sometimes it requires more burning paper for the wood to catch fire.

And, then it is necessary to tend the fire…replenish the wood, move the wood about…build a bed of coals…so that the fire continues to burn for the rest of the day. I think new changes are a bit like that…it is necessary to repeat the action, to stay engaged in the new change for awhile, before it is a real part of one’s self.

The payoff is having roasted marshmallows at the end of the day.