IT ONLY TAKES A SPARK TO GET A FIRE GOING

This little song, It only takes a spark to get a fire going, is the song we sang at my mother's funeral.  This is something I fear most of us have lost.

You might say, "No, I still have the spark, I attend church every Sunday morning".

Folks, that is not a spark!

That is only an ember, and the ember is only small enough to warm the pew/chair on which one sits on Sunday morning.  Notice, I said one!  That ember will usually not make it past our own seat because while we are sitting warming that one spot we are whining and complaining about everything under the sun, and would most assuredly dowse any warmeth trying to arise around us.

I have spoken with several ministries lately and each mentions the same, "We can get people to volunteer any day of the week but only about 10% of the volunteers follow through."

Do you know what this does to leaders/pastors?

We hear so much negative about ministers nowadays but being a ministers wife, I can tell you pastor's and their families sacrifice an awful lot to keep unity in the group and keep everything running smoothly.

We have heard story after story about missionary/pastors kids growing up and not speaking to their parents anymore because the world has fed them a line and they latched on and believed they were abused growing up because they couldn't do certain things or go certain places.

Now they are harboring resentment and anger so deep you can hear it in their voice.  The funny thing is, everyone I have spoken to say the exact same sentences almost verbatim as it they have read what they need to be saying.

The worst abuse most of these children have experienced was not the abuse itself but the abuse they inflict upon themselves of carrying around anger, resentment, and distrust, they have not let go of for years.

The most abused people of all are those who dig a hole and hid away from the world with the accusation of being wounded when they were young.  They hid away and pick the wound until it becomes cancerous and destroys relationships and even their own selves.

Would it not be far better to forgive, move on and set a spark to get a fire going of hope, love, and encouragement for others to warm up under.

It only takes a spark to get a fire going
And soon all those around will warm up in it's glowing
That's how it is with God's love
Once you experience it
I want to sing
It's fresh like Spring
I want to pass it on.