For the last couple of years, I have lived in a home with a wood burning stove that we use for heat. I had never had an opportunity to enjoy that experience before, and prior to living in this home, I knew little to nothing about fire building.
One thing that I have discovered, however, strikes me as profoundly reflective of a larger truth:
It is nearly impossible to build or maintain a fire with only one log.
It has nothing to do with the amount of wood in that log, either, but simply the fact that one log alone cannot maintain its own heat. If you split that same log into multiple pieces, you have a chance to maintain the fire. The pieces feed on the heat of one another and contain that heat together. I can’t necessarily explain all the scientific details to you, but I have definitely found it to be true.
This is a lot like life, isn’t it? Any isolated individual who is left to support himself spiritually and emotionally will struggle. The only hope for such a man is the fact that the Lord never leaves His own entirely by themselves, for He is with them even if no others are. Even so, however, it is God’s design that we are far more able to thrive and grow as we live in fellowship with other men and women who help us maintain and build up our fire.
