This last January, my professors at seminary shared with us a beautiful poem. It was a way to help us center our thoughts as we moved forward to do the work. I want to share it with you now, as we enter a new church year and prepare to do the work of love, together:

“Fire” by Judy Brown

What makes a fire burn

is space between the logs,

a breathing space.

Too much of a good thing,

too many logs

packed in too tight

can douse the flames

almost as surely

as a pail of water would.

So building fires

requires attention

to the spaces in between,

as much as to the wood.

When we are able to build

open spaces

in the same way

we have learned

to pile on the logs,

then we can come to see how

it is fuel, and absence of the fuel

together, that make fire possible.

We only need to lay a log

lightly from time to time.

A fire

grows

simply because the space is there,

with openings

in which the flame

that knows just how it wants to burn

can find its way.

What is in these empty spaces, these openings? Is it the unknowns? The questions? The ambiguous? Is it rest– a place for the breathing to happen? Is it grace? These are unknown, anxious times we are living through. Let us be sure to take pause and look into the empty spaces. Let us be ok with the uncertainties, knowing that soon enough they will be filled with the flame that gives us the power to do the work of love.