fire

Tonight our next door neighbor's house caught fire. Everyone is ok, thank God, but it was quite dramatic and scary. We didn't even notice anything was happening until one of our neighbors started frantically ringing our doorbell to tell us to move our car, minutes before broken glass started raining down on our driveway. The fire was in their attic and the flames were shooting tall and orange, about 15 feet in the air above the roof, as we watched two firefighters climb onto the roof and begin to hack at it with axes to break in. Immediately, we started to pray - what else do you do? It was all I could think of - that and pack a few pieces of clothing, Nathan's Dog, some cash, and financial papers in an overnight bag to be ready in case we had to leave in a hurry. There was a ridiculous moment when I stood in front of the closet trying to decide which outfits I wanted to put in the bag in case we had to leave quickly. How do you pack for evacuation and possible homelessness? My husband has not stopped making fun of me for those few moments of deliberation - yet I didn't see him making a move to put anything in the suitcase.

For the first time tonight Nathan heard me pray in my prayer language. He was fascinated, and kept asking me to pray to Jesus again and again so he could hear me. I realize I have not been practicing my PL around him, or anywhere really, for a long time. I am not sure why - perhaps no "imminent need" for God to act powerfully? Like daily life is not imminent or needy enough. But, I was glad that it flowed so easily in the moment - I didn't even think about it, it just started to happen. Makes me feel slightly better about holy spirit saturday coming up in 2 weeks. I feel like I've been out of practice with many of my faith habits for awhile, and I'm enjoying the chance Seek gives me to polish up my toolbox.

I am supposed to be using this blog as a reflective time instead of a food or media fast during this Leap of Faith season, but tonight I admit I'm mostly feeling tired and distracted. The fire, the TV, the ice cream in the fridge, all of these things call to me to pay attention to them instead of engaging with myself and God here on the screen. I will pray tonight for tomorrow to be different, and for the embers in the attic next door to be fully extinguished, and for the embers of faith in my heart to catch, ignite, blaze.