ember

Ember.  A small, glowing piece of coal or wood, as in a dying fire.  A hot fragment of wood or coal that is left from a fire and is glowing or smoldering.

Have you ever felt so burnt out by a situation, or just by life in general?  Or maybe you are the person that has been burnt by another person.  Life has knocked you around and you just don't see it getting any better.  Perhaps you just want to give up because it hurts to much to care, and hope is not a promise but instead a painful reminder of all that hasn't happened, or all that has been taken from you, and all that remains are the smoldering ashes of a life that once was, or one that you have come to believe never will be.  What will you do?

Notice that an ember glows, even when it's dying.  There's something of a spark that burns brightly amidst the gray dullness of the ashes.  If you're still breathing, there's still hope. 

I Timothy 1: 5-7 says, "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.  For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."

Inside an ember lies the choice of life or death.  You can step on it, and kill the fire forever.  Or you can fan it into a flame, and let your light shine.  That thing that maybe you thought would kill you may be the very thing that sparks your life into the brightest flame anyone has ever seen. 

It's amazing what God can do with a broken, burnt out shell of a life.  I know, because He's done it to mine.  And I am living proof that even if you are the one responsible for the wreckage, there's no person that does not have that little spark of hope, that is too far gone for God to breath life into the ashes and spark a flame that will never die. 

Don't you give up.  Allow God to fan into flame the gifts, the passion, the spark that He placed in your life.  You know, that thing that refuses to die even when the rest of your life is in ruin and all you want to do is quit.  Don't.  Allow God to breathe life into your ember, that small glowing piece in the midst of your dying fire.  Because your life matters, even if all that's left is an ember.