You and I meet, On the shores of the broken
You swallow the ocean, I Swallow my pride
Only to see, The way that I need you
Is more than I knew, I ever could
In between the ashes and the flames
Is a cry an awkward silence
Could never contain
And the falling of my hammers
And the writhing of my pain
Is just not as real as the way
That you’re calling my name
I cant help thinking, That the way that you want me
And the ghost that haunts me, Are one and the same
Cause you stand at my window, At night wile I’m sleeping
There’s not a promise I’m keeping, That could ever repay you
In between the ashes and the flames
There’s a song that burns brighter
Than Radio waves
Bout the remnants of my Idols
And the shadow of my shame
About how they scatter like the rain and I can’t stop crying
Cause you won’t stop calling my name
Calling my name up from the ashes…
-Ashes and Flames by John Mark McMillan
—-
Flames mesmerize me. Every time I’m around a bonfire, I can’t help but stare deep into the flames. It amazes me how the chemical reaction is produced from a few converging factors: fuel, oxygen and a spark. That’s all it takes to produce intense heat and light, energy palpable and visible, a kind of energy that draws me in…”in between the ashes and the flames.”
What IS in between the ashes and the flames? Embers. Glowing, slowly burning from the inside out, being consumed by energy; organic matter being sacrificed for the production of heat and light. Embers seem magical to me. Requiring only a spark, cold molecules bound solidly together soon become a pulsing energy, glowing with a new purpose.
I believe I was made for something more than to live, love, make merry and die.
I believe YOU were made for something more than this life.
I believe we were all made for something MORE.
Like the wood that is transformed into an ember, every human is waiting for something to catch fire within his or her soul…waiting for the spark that will produce the heat and light and energy that so inexplicably draws others to behold it…the energy that consumes everything that once defined, yet burns bright with true purpose.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” -2 Corinthians 3:17-18
If you’ve ever met one of the beautiful people who have met the Spark, Jesus Christ, and their souls are burning with a true purpose, you know it. You can see the difference in their eyes when you ask them how their day was, or in the joy they bring to everyday life, or in the way they serve other people for something so much more than personal satisfaction. When someone is set on fire, their hearts are transformed from broken, cold, wooden things to hearts that are energy-producing embers. Everything is required of these people–their lives are never the same again, and the sacrifice is more than any may imagine at the outset–but the purpose they now burn with is so much more beautiful and valuable than anything that was present before the Spark came.
“I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” -Romans 12:1-3
What were we made for? We were made to be set on fire by the Spirit of the God of the universe, and to burn with HIS love for the people and the earth He created, and to serve Him for the rest of our days. We were made to be EMBERS, shedding the things of this world–those cold, broken, wooden hearts–and being transformed into something bright and beautiful to behold. Something that others who remain just plain wood will never quite comprehend…until they accept the Spark of Jesus Christ and let him inside their hearts to burn away everything old and replace it with something new.
“His word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.” -Jeremiah 20:9
