The Keeper of the Flame

by: Carole L. Haines

I was recently on a Women’s Retreat at Sandy Cove, MD.  It was a church retreat at the invitation of a friend.  The facilities were just so conducive to sitting and listening to the Lord a lot.  One of the things I liked best about it were the many fireplaces throughout the facility.  There must have been about 6 or more.  I’m an early riser, so I walked down to the window that overlooked the Chesapeake Bay and sat by the fireplace to have a time alone with the Lord.  It must have been around 5:30 in the morning.  Not long after I was there, an employee came along and began to pile the fire and light it.  It flamed up for a few minutes, but then only smoldered.  He was back again in a few minutes to add more kindling and paper.  Again, the fire flamed up, and this time reduced to a very small smoldering heap.  Sure enough, he came back again, and added still more paper, blew air into the fire to disperse it, and waited and watched.  It flamed up again, and this time, crackled into a consistently beautiful warm fire.  I thanked him every time he came back.  He was so faithful to make sure that the fire stayed lit for the guests.  I called him, “The Keeper of the Flame,” and so he was.

This whole scene reminded me of how often we need to remind one another of God’s promises.  We can be so close to our own situations and struggles, that we can’t see the truth of what others may see.  The Apostle Peter says this:

¹² Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. ¹³ I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder. (2 Peter 1: 12-13 NASB)

And again He say in Chapter 3:  

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. (vs. 1-2 NASB)

O, how we need to be keepers of the flame for one another.  Our minds and hearts grow weary sometimes in the battle of life.  Doubts creep in at times.  Our fierce enemy continually speaks lies to us.  We can get weighted down with such things.  Let us come along side and do as the Scriptures tell us:

²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; ²⁴ and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵ not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25 NASB)

Let us become Keepers of the Flame of His Love, to each other. Have blessed day.